Francesco Biondo in Barcelona with Beyond the Drift of Words
The work dedicated to Vincenzo Consolo takes part in the first stage of España Tour Biennale 26/27, promoted by Fondazione Effetto Arte.
Francesco Biondo will take part in the first stage of España Tour Biennale 26/27, an exhibition and cultural project promoted by Fondazione Effetto Arte, bringing a selected group of Italian artists to three Spanish cities: Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia.
The work representing his artistic research is 2 July 1992 – Beyond the Drift of Words, created in 2018 as part of the series La Storia Dipinta (Painted History) and dedicated to the Sicilian writer Vincenzo Consolo.
Made with acrylic on MDF, the work takes its starting point from a specific date: 2 July 1992, when Consolo received the Strega Prize for Nottetempo, casa per casa. This literary award becomes, in Biondo’s interpretation, an opportunity to reflect on the responsibility of writing, the preservation of memory and the need to safeguard a voice that has maintained its critical independence.
The painting unfolds as a geography of signs and references. An orange-red sky stretches above a pale, earth-like expanse crossed by fine lines, pathways and fragments of memory. The inscriptions Milan 1968 and 1991 mark two moments in time, connecting the writer’s personal experience with his civic conscience. Below, the blue silhouette of Sicily emerges as a place of origin, while two lunar forms evoke Lunaria, one of Consolo’s most visionary works.
In Biondo’s painting, Sicily is more than a geographical reference: it is an enduring presence, a source of memory and language. Similarly, the traces crossing the surface do not reconstruct history in a linear way; they gather its interruptions, tensions and lingering echoes.
The work belongs to Biondo’s broader investigation of individual and collective history, in which painting becomes a space for reworking memory and confronting the responsibilities of the present. His tribute to Consolo therefore goes beyond literary homage. It becomes an appeal to language as an instrument of truth, capable of preserving feelings, experiences and events that time might otherwise disperse.
“I seek to save words, in order to save feelings, in order to save a certain history”: these words by Vincenzo Consolo encapsulate the core of the work. Biondo embraces this legacy, translating it into a pictorial web in which the island, dates, moons and lines become fragments of a single narrative.
With Beyond the Drift of Words, Francesco Biondo brings to Barcelona a reflection on memory and the resilience of language, entrusting painting with the task of keeping the dialogue between art, literature and history alive.
The Barcelona event
The first stage of España Tour Biennale 26/27 will take place from 30 October to 1 November 2026 at the MEAM – Museu Europeu d’Art Modern, housed in Palau Gomis, Carrer de la Barra de Ferro 5, Barcelona, as part of the 6th Barcelona Art Biennial.
The participating artists’ works will be presented in video exhibition format. The project also includes editorial and promotional initiatives, with catalogues featuring dedicated critical texts and artistic photolithographs based on the artists’ works.
The inauguration is scheduled for Friday, 30 October 2026, at 5:00 pm.
The initiative is promoted by Fondazione Effetto Arte. The project is curated by Marco Rebuzzi, Gian Mauro Sales Pandolfini and Sandro Serradifalco.