Francesco Lauretta's 'Festival' Survey at MAC Lissone

The MAC (Museo d'Arte Contemporanea) in Lissone, Italy, presents 'Festival', a comprehensive survey of Francesco Lauretta (born 1964, Ispica). Curated by newly appointed director Francesca Guerisoli, the exhibition features around fifty works from the 2000s to today, including paintings, drawings, dust pieces, sculptures, mixed-media works, and performances. The show emphasizes continuity with the historic Premio Lissone (1947–1967), which built the museum's permanent collection, now displayed in the basement with works by Morlotti, Braque, Appel, Tàpies, Bacon, Sutherland, Matta, Schifano, Adami, and Lauretta himself. Lauretta's practice is described as corporeal, joyful, and engaged, exploring painting's enduring capacity to surprise despite its long tradition. His Sicilian heritage surfaces in subjects like processions, hanging gardens, seascapes, and fragrant foods, alongside themes of transience and death, with references to literary alter-ego Pasavento. The exhibition includes 'sucati' (reworked older paintings), drawings capturing immediate thoughts, and a new site-specific audio piece 'Il mare a Lissone' created with Michele Spadaro, linking the museum to Lombardy's foggy periphery.