Creativity, when unrestrained, moves with an urgency that resists containment. Aesthetic Squandering, Fred Borghesi’s first UK solo exhibition, captures his instinctive approach to art—an outpouring expression that defies boundaries and conventions. Working across diverse media and materials, Borghesi experiments, allowing forms to emerge spontaneously and evolve through process. Shifting between figuration and abstraction, his works embrace both control and chance. This exhibition invites viewers into a world where artistic impulse is paramount, and creation itself is as significant as the work it leaves behind.

For Fred Borghesi, Aesthetic Squandering encapsulates his intuitive bursts of creativity, transcending the boundaries between artistic styles. This exhibition reflects his insatiable drive for artistic production, showcasing a wide-ranging portfolio that speaks to diverse audiences with varied tastes. His work is fuelled by a deeply romantic vision of art; one that is raw, urgent, and unrelenting in its need for expression. He approaches creation with an almost feverish intensity, driven by a desire for his voice to be heard and for his artistic legacy to endure.

“Work produced intuitively conveys truths about one’s personality; just a few brushstrokes can already tell a story. When something gets in the way, that’s usually too much of your conscious self, too much imposition; the work just has to be binned.”

Borghesi draws inspiration from an eclectic mix of art movements, including expressionism, abstract expressionism, Asian calligraphy, and primitivism. He is also influenced by children’s art, often seen as the purest form of creative expression, guided solely by instinct. The artist believes that “work produced intuitively conveys truths about one’s personality; just a few brushstrokes can already tell a story. When something gets in the way, that’s usually too much of your conscious self, too much imposition; the work just has to be binned.” His belief in the unfiltered purity of artistic expression aligns with Amedeo Modigliani’s declaration: “What I am seeking is not the real and not the unreal, but rather the unconscious, the mystery of the instinctive in the human race.”

Materials and technique are central to Borghesi’s artistic process. He experiments with various mediums, including ink, watercolour, photography, and sketching, often merging them to create a distinctive sense of depth. Colour plays an equally vital role, as he alternates between stark monochrome and bold, unnaturalistic hues that captivate the viewer. He also challenges material conventions by playing with scale and surface. His figures can appear even on minute restaurant notepads, underscoring the expansive, unrestrained nature of his artistry.

This exhibition marks a milestone as Borghesi’s first solo show in the UK, offering a comprehensive exploration of his creative range. By presenting his works together, the show highlights his bold transmediality, revealing the full scope of his artistic vision. Within the show, he explores different degrees of abstraction: some works are distinctly figurative, while others dissolve into non-representational forms.

While Borghesi primarily works from memory, rejecting the conventional use of models, there are moments when he engages more directly with visual references. Even in these cases, his approach remains deeply personal, filtering reality through his perception rather than striving for literal representation. This process allows his works to reflect his lived experience and the fluid nature of artistic interpretation, offering viewers an intimate glimpse into his world.

Borghesi’s work is a testament to the urgency of artistic expression, the need to create not as a choice, but as an imperative. Mario Schifano once said, “I want to do everything, and everything interests me. The important thing is to keep moving.” This restless pursuit of creation, this refusal to be confined, is intrinsic to Borghesi’s approach. His art exists in a constant state of motion—shifting, evolving, and resisting boundaries—driven by an insatiable hunger to make his voice heard and endure.