The life of Franco Ule (Trieste, 1959-2018) ran its course over some sixty years, and the traces that might keep his memory alive are rather sparse. His rebellious temperament prevented him from completing any formal artistic training, as he repeatedly came into conflict with the doctrines his “teachers” attempted to instill in him. On one occasion, for instance, a teacher who insisted he draw straight lines – while Ule stubbornly pursued his own inner impulses – went so far as to snap the tip of his pencil. A somewhat abrupt way of telling him that in that classroom his presumed artistic expression – deep-rooted in the mark, the squiggle, the doodle, the erasure, in gestural and material painting, in the deformation of the figure and the frayed field of color – would find no hearing.
Franco Ule, drawing from the cycle “Rapid Eye Movement”, 1981, acrylic on paper, detail. Photo courtesy Archives Juliet
Two worlds collided: that of free lyrical expression, which was expected to commit suicide in order to make room for the rigid claim of a design practice ruled by set square and ruler. The school in question, where he encountered his first obstacles, was the renowned “Enrico e Umberto Nordio” School of Art in Trieste, in the department of pictorial decoration. The student eventually quit his studies, and yet the first public exhibition of his work had taken place years earlier at Palazzo Vivante in Trieste, well before the deaf circle of the academic institution rejected his expressive impetus. It was the early 1970s, Ule was barely fourteen years old, and the inextinguishable fire had already been lit. His first major solo exhibition dates instead to 1977, at Centro La Cappella in Trieste, in its historic venue on Via Franca: in a single night he painted an entire twenty-meter wall with grotesque figures, somewhat in the manner of a revisited Goya. One cannot help thinking of what would soon follow: the painterly drift of the Transavanguardia, the Neue Wilden and neo-decorativism, and the “Aperto” section of the 1980 Venice Biennale, which would officially confirm all those inner impulses.
Franco Ule, from the series “Der letze Mann”, 1981, acrylic on cardboard, 70 x 100 cm. This work was realized for the one man show “L’assassinio inconsapevole”, Centro La Cappella, Trieste, 1981. Photo by Alessio Curto, private collection
In certain respects Franco Ule appears as a precursor. Yet his difficult character – somewhat surly, animated by a sacred and at times uncontrollable fire – did not allow him to find support or the necessary backing beyond the city of Trieste. As a result, that reservoir of energy was in part dispersed, dissolving into the tributaries of a system that never truly wished to grant him the attention he deserved. Juliet Editrice nevertheless published an artist’s catalogue for him: it was 1981, and the small book, edited by Oreste Zevola, was titled Rapid Eye Movement. Around the time of that publication, Franco Ule produced one hundred drawings that were offered as a gift to those who subscribed as supporting members to the magazine Juliet. Later, in 1996, Juliet brought him to Arte Fiera within the project BRAP-RITRATTI, where, alongside his “large pig heads,” there were works by Sergio Cascavilla, Enrico T. De Paris, Antonio Sofianopulo and others. Needless to say, without obtaining significant economic returns or particular attention from the official press.
Franco Ule, from the series “Der letze Mann”, 1981, acrylic on cardboard, 70 x 100 cm. This work was realized for the one man show “L’assassinio inconsapevole”, Centro La Cappella, Trieste, 1981. Photo by Alessio Curto, private collection
Yet these premises are still insufficient. To dwell on his work one must refer not only to the heterogeneity of his production, but also to the antagonistic stance he assumed with respect to the mainstream current – still, in the 1970s, heir to conceptual and Arte Povera postures. If we attempt to summarize his most authentic artistic testimonies, we understand how his position at the margins and somewhat outside the system – while maintaining dialogue with a few individuals belonging to the art world – actually places him in a position of perfect historical pertinence with regard to those graphic and painterly modes which, although widely anticipated by Baselitz, Kiefer and Penck, would erupt as a collective phenomenon only after 1980. In this perspective, many of his works appear not merely as the necessary and solitary expression of a voice – understood as a cry against an external world perceived as enemy and antagonist – but also acquire value from an aesthetic standpoint, or as the affirmation of a precise point in history.
Franco Ule, from the series “Der letze Mann”, 1981, acrylic on cardboard, 70 x 100 cm. This work was realized for the one man show “L’assassinio inconsapevole”, Centro La Cappella, Trieste, 1981. Photo by Alessio Curto, private collection
What becomes fundamental is the subversive charge of his language, his disenchanted indifference toward a life conducted within the bounds of normality, the necessity of a daily expression as essential as drinking water and eating bread, without undue concern for formal precision or for a language that might appear standardized. These values were recognized also by Valerio Dehò and Maria Rosa Pividori when they organized his first appearance in Milan at the Dieci.Due! Gallery: it was 2001, and the exhibition was titled Tea Time. But it must also be said that Boris Brollo was a precursor when he presented his work in 1996 at the Crossing Space in Portogruaro, emphasizing the same aspects of a completely personal and lyrical language.
Franco Ule, “Sarenco”, 1996, acrylic on paste-board, 43 x 29,5 cm. Work for the exhibition “BRAP-RITRATTI”. Photo by Alessio Curto, courtesy Archives Juliet
What in fact unifies the totality of his production and his entire path of research is “the mark that marks,” as Enzo Cucchi, one of the leading figures of that return to painting, might have said: a return that, in the most appropriate terms, forms the architrave of postmodern culture, namely a bending toward a past inclined to erase the destructive and disproportionate experiences of the neo-avant-gardes. And if, in describing his artistic work, we were to adopt a historical category, we would say that, much like Vincent van Gogh (an artist he deeply loved), Franco Ule sought in every way to live art in a total and all-encompassing manner, allowing himself to be absorbed and dominated by it to the very depths of his soul. Such is the weight of his “expressive aggressiveness” that, when left unbridled, is capable of tearing the canvas, ripping the paper, producing fragments from which images for new works are then drawn. Each of his works thus becomes a warning to our capacity for endurance, an examination of our right to exist, a question mark hovering above the right or wrong actions performed throughout the day. All of this punctuated by a coffee and cigarette break, the only way to halt the inexorable flow of painting.
Franco Ule, “Il fiume e i suoi affluenti”, 1998, acrylic on paper, 27 x 24 cm. Photo by Alessio Curto, courtesy private collection
From the few things said so far, Franco Ule comes out as a marginal author, outside the system, yet certainly to be considered a precursor of a painterly vis whose authenticity cannot be questioned. One is tempted to think that being a precursor is not always a fortunate condition: what matters is finding oneself in the right place at the necessary moment. On the coordinates X and Y one may then receive either the longed-for recognition or a fragment of meteorite freefalling from the sky. As a confirmation of his work and of this life’s path, on Tuesday, May 12, 2026, at 6:00 pm, an exhibition featuring around fifteen of his historical works will open at AD FORMANDUM in Trieste. The project will be presented by Roberto Vidali, director of the Juliet art magazine.
(Translated from Italian by Paolo Cecchetto)
Bruno Sain
Info:
Franco Ule, Pitture e carte
12/5/2026 – 2/3/2027
Opening: Tuesday 12 May, 6:00 pm
AD FORMANDUM società cooperativa sociale / socialna zadruga
via della Ginnastica 72, Trieste
www.adformandum.org
He was born in 1953 in Velika Gorica (Croatia), but considers himself a citizen of the world. After attending university courses in a rhapsodic manner in Zagreb and Maribor, he collaborated for about thirty years with the countercultural and underground scene in Ljubljana.
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