Francesco Conti
I grew up on the outskirts of Rome and later lived in the United States, where I became aware of a subtle sense of isolation beneath ordinary built environments. Returning to London, I found a similar atmosphere in overlooked urban spaces - industrial canals, ageing facades and quiet passages that seem to hold traces of lives no longer present.
My paintings begin from these places, but they are less about describing urban scenes than about how familiar spaces can feel quietly altered: real, yet slightly withheld. Through repetition, compressed light and suspended stillness, I try to evoke a kind of constructed reality in which ordinary places take on an ambiguous presence. Human figures rarely dominate these paintings; even when they appear, I am often interested less in narrative than in atmosphere.
Much of the work is made at night, and I think that solitude enters the paintings as a way of perceiving space.
New English Art Club 2025, 2026
Royal Society of British Artists Annual Exhibition 2025
ING Discerning Eye 2019, 2022, 2024
Gallery Green and Stone 2024
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Solo Shows
June 2025 – The Art Space, Kingston, London
2020 – The Art Space, Cass Art, Hampstead, London
2020 – All or Nothing, Nude Tin Can Gallery, St Albans
2020 – The Art Space, Cass Art, Hampstead, London
Selected Group Exhibitions
2026 - NEAC Annual Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London
2025 - Soho Open, GPS Gallery Soho, London
2025 – NEAC Annual Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London
2025 – Royal Society of British Artists Annual Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London
2024 – ING Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London
2024 – Green & Stone Summer Exhibition, London
2024 – Townhouse Open, London
2022 – ING Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London (Limassol Marina, sold)
2020 – The Seventh View, C24 Gallery, New York City
2019 – ING Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London
Education & Training
PhD in Molecular Biology (Cancer Research UK / King’s College London)
Artistic training: self-taught
Prizes & Awards
2023 – Daler Rowney Award, TALP Open
2021 – Best of Acrylics publication – AcrylicWorks 8
Gallery Affiliation
2020–2021 – Nude Tin Can Gallery, St Albans (closed)