Francesco D’Adamo (b. 1979 in Siena, IT) is an Italian painter currently living and working in Bologna, Italy.
His first approach to painting occurred during his childhood in Termoli, where he began taking private lessons in the late 1980s. Francesco later chose a different educational path, returning to the canvas intermittently over the years. This continued until his relocation to Bologna in 2006, where he resumed painting and from 2010 onward he set out on a path that would ultimately make it his primary practice, and eventually his profession. 2014 marked the beginning of his public exhibitions, leading to numerous shows and events over the subsequent years, both in Italy and abroad, including notable solo shows such as Chimere (2017), Discanto (2018), Dyssomnia (2019, HK) and Oggetti Smarriti (2024). His works can now be found in various private and public collections around the world.
Francesco D’Adamo’s painting practice is deeply rooted in Italian informalism and American Abstract Expressionism, with a particular emphasis on the continuous dialogue between visual and musical language. The sign and its rhythm, layered structures and a strong palette, all converge on the canvas in an attempt to create a lyrical yet deeply concrete image. His latest body of work has also revealed new elements within his painting, featuring structures with subtle figuration (with components drawn from the still life tradition) and a remarkably vibrant palette, gradually replacing the more intimate and nebulous style of preceding years.
Alongside his painting practice, Francesco was long involved as a guitarist in various musical projects, most notably Nero di Marte and Nono Cerchio, with whom he released several albums and toured extensively across Italy, Europe, and the United States. This extensive chapter concluded in 2020, and since then, his musical practice has been entirely dedicated to studying the cello.
Following his graduate studies, he worked from 2010 to 2015 as an educator within the fields of disability and psychiatry.
In the early 2000s, he founded and ran Anonymous Skateboards, an Italian skateboarding company which operated until 2008 and featured many of the most well-known Italian skaters of the period on its team, producing with them the videos Underground (2004), Interruption (2006) and various demos/tours both in Italy and abroad.
