Francesco Lauretta's Quarantine Diary: Painting a Festival in Isolation

Francesco Lauretta documents the creation of an oil on canvas (110 x 183 cm) during Italy's COVID-19 lockdown, starting just before quarantine began on Easter 2020. The painting, depicting a traditional Southern Italian festival, is intended for exhibition on October 4, 2020 at San Sebastiano Contemporary/Casa Bramante in Palazzolo Acreide, during the celebrations of San Michele. Lauretta reflects on the temporal nature of festivals, drawing on Elias Canetti's 'Massa e Potere' and Furio Jesi, as well as Hans-Georg Gadamer's concept of 'learning to linger' as the essence of art's temporal experience. He notes the painting exists in a limbo, removed from cultural and exhibition value until shown. During lockdown, he also expanded the free drawing lessons of the Scuola di Santa Rosa (founded three years prior with Luigi Presicce in Florence) to an online format via Instagram, held every Tuesday from 10:30 to 13:00.