Francesco Albano – The Body as a Vessel for Inner States

Francesco Albano’s sculptures are physically present and deeply psychological. His figures often lack faces – yet they express the full range of human emotion. In Me You We – Exploring Human Behaviour, he explores hidden suffering and the body’s role as a carrier of psychological pain.

Francesco Albano, born in 1976 in Italy, is known for his organic sculptures that blur the line between the human and the abstract. Using materials such as wax, resin, and iron, he creates bodies that appear to sink, melt, or explode – as if shaped by internal pressure rather than external form. Albano studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Carrara and has exhibited internationally for over two decades. His works often evoke strong reactions – confronting the viewer with what we’d rather not see: vulnerability, taboo, and brutal humanity.

Me You We – Exploring Human Behaviour brings forward questions in Albano’s work about identity, shame, and self-image. The sculptures may seem exaggerated, but paradoxically reflect the very pressure and distortion many people experience in silence.

On the research:
Albano’s works touch on themes such as psychological burden, anxiety, and the psychosocial impact of body ideals. In behavioral science, it is often said that emotions can “settle in the body” – a phenomenon where prolonged stress or trauma manifests physically. Research shows that social norms and unattainable ideals, especially in digital spaces, influence how we perceive our bodies and ourselves. Albano’s art gives shape to exactly this – the body as a mirror of the mind.

• Works in the exhibition
  Twelve Years Ago New Year’s Feast
• Self-Portrait as the Birth of the Nocturnal Landscape