Ben Uri Research Unit

Born: 1990 Faedis, Italy

Year of Migration to the UK: 2017

Biography

Artist Francesco Poiana was born in Faedis, Italy, in 1990. He studied Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome (2011–16) before moving to London and obtaining a Master of Fine Arts at Central Saint Martins (2017–19). In 2019, he joined the Royal Drawing School with a scholarship.

Poinao's artistic practice centres on drawing, painting, and printmaking, often exploring landscape themes. His work emerges from experiences shaped by light, memory, and colour, which he translates into evocative compositions that oscillate between reality and imagination. He considers drawing to be his primary means of expression, a practice he has cultivated daily since childhood. His engagement with printmaking deepened in 2018, through his collaboration with Stamperia d’Arte Albicocco in Udine, Italy, which helped him bridge the gap between drawing and printmaking. His process is deeply experimental, incorporating multiple media and techniques, such as oil, watercolour, and printmaking. He describes his method as a balance between control and spontaneity, likening it to an ‘alchemic game’ in which materials guide the final outcome (Paint Symposium). Poiana’s artistic journey was profoundly shaped by literature and film, particularly the poetry of Pier Paolo Pasolini. He recalls that reading Pasolini’s work during his studies in Rome was a defining moment in his decision to become an artist, while cinema, particularly the films of Andrei Tarkovsky, has influenced his perception of landscapes as psychological spaces, where external reality and inner experience merge.

Initially focused on figure drawing, Poiana gradually shifted to landscapes, finding them more liberating, allowing for intuitive mark-making and a fluid dialogue between observation and abstraction. He sees the process as a way of reconstructing memory through form and light, rather than merely recording reality. His compositions, often based on sketches made outdoors, evolve into layered, atmospheric images in the studio. His oil paintings reflect this interplay between direct observation and imagination. During a residency in western Sicily in 2022, near the Saline di Trapani and Paceco Nature Reserve, he worked outdoors on small-format panels and canvases, capturing the shifting light and colours of the landscape. Inspired by plein air traditions, his approach seeks immediacy, while allowing for later refinement in the studio. In 2023, he was an artist-in-residence at Hektor, a farmhouse on the volcanic island of Lanzarote, where he immersed himself in its rugged terrain through observational drawing. This residency informed his ongoing Terra di Dio series, a visual exploration of volcanic landscapes as psychological spaces, where the boundaries between the real and the imagined dissolve. Poiana has increasingly incorporated geological studies into his practice, investigating how the material properties of landscapes—rock formations, erosion, and sedimentation—inform his approach to abstraction. Poiana describes his process as one of constant reworking, starting from observation but evolving into a deeper reconstruction of both the physical and psychological dimensions of the land (Paint Symposium).

Poiana has exhibited internationally, including annual participation in the Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair since 2019, the same year his work featured in a group show at London's Estorick Collection. Represented by Messums since 2021, he has shown in both solo and group exhibitions. His series Hunter, Gatherer at Messums London explored the landscapes of Italy and England, reconstructing the Dolomites from memory in his Bethnal Green studio before refining his vision through direct observation. In 2023, Lavori su Carta at Messums Wiltshire showcased works on paper inspired by the Mediterranean landscape, particularly the salt pans of western Sicily. His 2024 solo exhibition Terre Senz’Ombra presented new carborundum prints, monotypes, and watercolours that explored light as a fleeting, transformative force, creating sensorial landscapes that dissolve the boundaries between representation and abstraction. Though primarily known for landscapes, Poiana’s practice also encompasses the human figure. His Humanitas exhibition at Spazio Scuderia in Villa Albrizzi Marini, Treviso, Italy (2021), revisited this theme, expanding his focus beyond landscape painting. Created in London over the winter, these drawings were later exhibited alongside his prints. He describes drawing as a process of inquiry, where ‘every drawing is like a question towards something, whether it be nature, a storm, or the human form’ (Humanitas exhibition interview). His approach embraces change, believing that charcoal, like thought, allows for shifts and evolution in an image.

Poiana has received several awards and residencies, including at the Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair and the Printmaking Category Award at Jackson’s Emerging Artist Prize, both in 2019. He has lectured in Drawing and Art for Fashion at the London College of Fashion and is currently an Associate Lecturer at the University of the Arts London (UAL). He has also tutored at Hampstead School of Art. He currently lives and works between Italy and England. In the UK public domain, Francesco Poiana's work is represented in the Royal Collection and the Dumfries House Estate Collection.

Related organisations

Academy of Fine Arts, Rome (student)
Central Saint Martins (student)
Hampstead School of Art (tutor)
London College of Fashion (lecturer)
Royal Watercolour Society (exhibitor)
University of Arts London (lecturer)

Selected exhibitions

Monotypes, group exhibition, Messums London (2025)
Emerging Landscape Painting Today, group exhibition, Messums London (2024)
Lavori su Carta, Messums Wiltshire, Salisbury (2024)
Unseen Fashion Faces and Figures Exhibition, London College of Fashion (2024)
Lavori su Carta, Messums Wiltshire, Salisbury (2023)
Special Exhibition celebrating the Coronation, Christie’s, London (2023)
Hunter, Gatherer, Messums, Cork Street, London (2022)
Recent Work, Messums, Cork Street, London (2021)
Italian Journey, online exhibition, Messums London (2021)
Francesco Poiana: The Win Green Series, Messums, Cork Street, London (2020)
Emerging Talents Exhibition: Francesco Poiana, Messums, Cork Street, London (2020)
CAMPARI Creates N100, Estorick Collection, London (2019)

Ben Uri archive

Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Francesco Poiana]

Ben Uri Research Unit

for the study and digital recording of the Jewish, Refugee and wide Immigrant contribution to British visual culture since 1900.

Francesco Poiana artist