Blinded by Love

With his robust body tattooed, the self-inflicted wounds and the slow bleeding transformed into an actual drip technique, performer and visual artist Franko B firmly made his mark as a new icon of contemporary body art. Printed in an all black edition, Blinded by Love documents his activity within the practice of performance from the early 90’s to the present, also introducing his most recent works. Over the years this powerful imagery of the wounded body and blood has been a vehicle for the most varied reflections such as vulnerability, pain, loss and, more generally, the alienation and trauma aroused by the cultural, religious and political establishment.

The works documented in Blinded by Love reflect the artist’s recent decision to abandon the blood practice and turn his research towards new strategies. From the circular works on wood, featuring a recurrent “man-heart-cross” triptych, to the monochrome blacks (some inspired by the Abu Ghraib Prison), right down to the installations of objets trouvés wrapped in bloody paper, Franko B’s new works range variously between drawings, paintings, photos and installations.

Born in Milan in 1960, Franko B has lived in London since 1979. He became active in body art performance in 1990 and has presented around forty performances at numerous international venues including the Tate Modern and the ICA in London and the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels.