At the MAC in Lissone, the first anthological exhibition in a museum on Francesco Lauretta

Held at the MAC - Museum of Contemporary Art in Lissone, from October 30, 2021 to January 29, 2022, the first anthological exhibition in a museum dedicated to Francesco Lauretta (Ispica, 1964), one of the most interesting contemporary Italian painters. The exhibition, titled Festival and curated by Francesca Guerisoli, displays some 50 of the artist’s major works (paintings, drawings, sculptures, actions, installations), which take the public into the heart of his creative journey, from which the joyful and vital atmosphere of a festival, a popular festival full of art, culture, folklore and music events, emanates. Set up on the MAC’s three floors, following a thematic order, the exhibition focuses on the main nodes of Lauretta’s research path, already known to the citizens of Lissone for the acquisition of the painting Dottor Pasavento with the Premio Lissone Pittura Edizione 2020/2021.

The exhibition is the first exhibition event inaugurating the artistic direction of Francesca Guerisoli, who took office as director of the museum last September. On October 24, the first public meeting took place, a dialogue on the newly appointed director’s MAC design collection together with design historian Anty Pansera, Compasso d’Oro alla Carriera 2020. Francesco Lauretta, a multifaceted artist, fine thinker and author of philosophical writings, is known in the art world for his ability to interpret the world through painting, often not limited to the two-dimensions of the painting, but extended to three-dimensional space through the use of heterogeneous, everyday materials that give rise to multi-sensory installations. What distinguishes part of his production is the careful definition of formal detail, the chromatic vivacity, the unsettling cuts with which he frames the subject, the grafts of figures, colors and elements that make the work enigmatic and its reading multiple. If the joy of life is a common feature of all his works, it is conveyed, however, by contrast through the juxtaposition of “life” and "death," generating a profound, if calibrated, ambiguity.

The most frequent subjects are folkloric, popular and tell of local traditions especially of his Sicily. Angels singing a song, processions, village festivals, funerals. If there are few portraits, by contrast there are many self-portraits in which Lauretta takes on other guises, as in the “Dottor Pasavento” series. Her production includes no shortage of large canvases depicting peasants, urban landscapes, local markets, typical Sicilian dishes, group portraits, and seascapes. Lauretta also makes singular sculptures made of accumulations and revisions of known forms, such as the series of Pneuma vases (2018) to Reanimate sculpture (1985-2017), here scattered between the first and second floors of the Museum.

Francesco Lauretta’s work does not end in the exhibition space. The artist is also the author of performances and actions acted out directly together with the public, the best known of which are the cycle of “Portraits of Death” and “School of Santa Rosa,” a project he has been carrying out since 2017 with artist Luigi Presicce. During the exhibition period, Lauretta will repropose for Lissone the performance “Scuola di Santa Rosa” (location and date to be defined). During the finissage, to be held on January 29, 2022, the exhibition catalog will be presented. After Francesco Lauretta’s “Festival,” MAC’s exhibition programming will continue until the end of the year with two more events: a context-specific intervention by Flavio Favelli, Casematte, on the Historical Collection of Premio Lissone, and a photographic installation on the occasion of the Christmas holidays.

Francesco Lauretta lives and works in Florence. His production ranges from painting, drawing, sculpture and multimedia installations. The artist often uses heterogeneous and salvaged materials, following from time to time the red thread of a project that is almost never exhausted within the space of the canvas. Solo exhibitions in the last two decades include: Lievissimo, Spazio Vôtre, Carrara (2021); In Hora Mortis, performance, Tenuta dello Scompiglio, Capannori (2019); Due volte, curated by Marco Senaldi, Galleria Giovanni Bonelli, Milan (2018); Radioso, curated by Sergio Troisi, Villa Zito, Palermo (2018); Inesistenze, Z2o Sara Zanin, Rome (2015); Una nuova mostra di pittura, Palazzo Beneventano, Site Mill, curated by Daria Filardo, Scicli (2014); Esercizi di Equilibrio, GAM - Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Palermo (2013); Stare fuori, Ex Marmi, Pietrasanta, curated by Lorenzo Bruni (2012); Reale, Ex Cavallerizza di Palazzo Sant’Elia, Palermo, curated by Lorenzo Bruni (2011); L’immagine che resta, Galleria Tedeschi, Turin (2010); L’infanzia assoluta, Galleria Dac, Genoa, curated by Cristina Grazioli (2010); Look ahead, and everything you love will vanish, Galleria Laveronica, Modica, 2009; Lacrimogeni, Allegretti Contemporanea, Turin (2009); Wherever, Neighborhood Recreation Center, Galleria Laveronica, Modica (2008); School of Painting, Galleria Civica di Trento, curated by O. Berlanda and G.M. Montesano (2007); We won’t be us, C/O Care Of, Milan, curated by Roberto Pinto (2005); Finisterre, Palazzo Bricherasio, Turin, curated by Luca Beatrice (2005); Bubble Gum, Galleria Carbone, Turin (2005); Keep awake! Spazio Juliet, Trieste (2005); Tenetevi svegli!, Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea Casier, Treviso (2004); Le metafisiche, Antonio Colombo Arte Contemporanea, Milan (2004); Via degli astronauti, Galleria Carbone, Turin (2003); Matrimia, Galleria Sebastiano Amenta, Parma (2002); Ceci n’est pas une pipe, Galleria Carbone, Turin (2000).

Pictured: Francesco Lauretta in front of his Pasavento during a performance.

At the MAC in Lissone, the first anthological exhibition in a museum on Francesco Lauretta

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