Francesco Simeti was born in Palermo, Italy (1968), lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
Francesco Simeti is an artist known for his site-specific installations, which aesthetically present enchanting scenes that reveal a more complex subtext upon closer inspection.
Simeti is an artist whose practice explores the intersection between beauty, power, and social critique. Best known for his immersive installations and site-specific works, Simeti often employs decorative motifs—such as wallpapers, tapestries, and ornamental patterns—as tools to question historical narratives and expose the darker realities hidden beneath aesthetic surfaces. Drawing from archival materials, mass media imagery, and natural landscapes, his work confronts themes of environmental degradation, political conflict, and collective memory. By juxtaposing the seductive and the unsettling, Through a unique blend of craft, design, and activism, his research not only reclaims traditional forms of decoration but also transforms them into powerful instruments of contemporary reflection.
Public Art is a fundamental aspect of his practice, he has worked with Percent for Art and Public Art for Public Schools in NYC, the Multnomah county in Oregon and has created permanent additions to subway stations in Brooklyn and Chicago.
In 2025, he inaugurated a permanent site-specific intervention at MAO, Museo d’Arte Orientale, Turin, Italy. He has had solo exhibitions at venues such as XNL, Piacenza (2022), Francesca Minini, Milan (2021), Assembly Room, New York (2019), Open Source Gallery, New York (2017), Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Palermo (2012), and Artists Space, New York (2009). His work has been included in group exhibitions at The Whitworth, Manchester (2023–2024), Pera Museum, Istanbul (2023–2024), MAO, Turin (2023), PAC, Milan (2022), MACTE, Termoli (2022), Magazzino Italian Art, Cold Spring, NY (2020), Museo Civico di Castelbuono, Palermo (2019), ICA Singapore (2017), Palazzo Reale, Milan (2016), and Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art, Turin (2014). He has also exhibited work at the Triennale di Milano (2013 and 2014).
His works are featured among the contemporary art collections of Fondazione Luigi Rovati, Milan; Museo del Novecento, Milan; Victoria & Albert Museum, London; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia.
