Francesco Agresti
Artist Biography
1949 - Present
Chrolonology
Born in Itri, Italy
1949
Immigrated to the United States with his parents and brother Joe. Lived in Bronx, New York where his mother worked as seamstress and his father as a construction carpenter.
1956
Earned his BFA and then his MFA from Hunter/Lehman College, with his MFA tuition sponsored by his brother Joe. His work was formally associated with the Post-ABEX movement, conveying the minimalism and the ‘’geometry of the day,’’ as well as a somber color palette. He created a series of small works on paper, called the Bronx Basement Drawings. His early work is much more restrained.
1972-1977
Agresti came out into the New York art scene in a group show, “14 Painters,” at Lehman College Gallery, Bronx, NY, with several other abstract artists who gained significant distinction and notoriety since, including David Reed, Len Bellinger, and Sean Scully. Agresti was included in the Artists in the Marketplace (AIM) exhibition at the Bronx Museum.
Early 1980s
While Agresti did attract the attention of a few notable New York collectors and patrons, including Catherine Markel of Markel Gallery, his work was shown inconsistently and he describes this time as a period of stress. Looking for a practical way to support himself, he takes a job at a post office where his spirit dwindles.
Mid-late 1980s
Agresti returned to reside in Itri, Italy, on the family's olive orchard where he also encountered his brother Joe recovering from PTSD from his time in service in the Vietnam War. Feeling like a failure, Agresti anticipated a full collapse. However, what ensued instead was a rebirth, as the natural landscape of Italy and the slower lifestyle healed the artist’s nerves.
Agresti’s abstractions evolved, taking a narrative and lyrical turn. Agresti began to involve more poetry and more glimpses of the representational world around him, with special focus on, funeral processions, frescoes, and horses.
Agresti taught art appreciation at the University of Naples and in 1992, he has a solo exhibition at Galleria Punto Arte, Fondi, Italy as he continued to stabilize his life and health.
1988-1993
Determined to return to the United States, Agresti found work as a lecturer in North Carolina. He went on to teach at several historically black colleges in the region, including North Carolina A&T State University, Winston‑Salem State University, Forsyth Community College, and Guilford Technical Community College. At Guilford Technical he achieved tenure as well as met his beloved Helga.
1993-2002
Exhibited his Noli me tangere (translation from Latin, touch me not), series in the exhibition “A Question of Faith,” at A&T State University in North Carolina, organized by notable curator Eleanor Heartney.
2001
With his partner and great supporter, Helga, Agresti relocated to Venice, Florida to return to art-making full time. Meditations on Florida’s coastal light, ocean, and sea oats define the signature style of Agresti’s late period, with horizon bands and cross-hatching. He partnered with a few different regional gallery galleries, including Gallery du Soleil, in Naples, Florida.
In 2020 Helga passes.
2003-2020
A new relationship with partner Teri once again fuels Agresti’s creative passions and pursuits. Living between Scituate, Massachusetts, and Venice, Florida. Agresti teaches at Venice Art Center and enjoys a prolific period of art making, hybridizing styles from across his career. He has become bolder with his marks, even creating slits in the canvas, freeing himself from the sense of containment that characterized his early work.
2020-26
A solo exhibition at Browne Art in Saint Petersburg, Florida, reveals Agresti at the height of his practice. The exhibition focuses on key artistic evolutions from the latest period of stylistic hybridization and the sense of freedom and joy that Agresti exudes through his work.
Agresti is inducted into the ‘‘Dalí Dozen’’ on the 10th anniversary of the program’s founding and participates in a group exhibition at The Dali Museum on St Petersburg, Florida.▪️
2026
Like Ariadne’s golden thread, I go into the past so I can find my way back out.
—Francesco Agresti
2026 interview with Browne Art