BOOK:Louis Fratino-Satura, Mousse Publishing

The 2024 exhibition catalog “Louis Fratino: Satura” by Mousse Publishing) is a lush, refined document that captures the American painter’s first institutional solo show at the Centro per l’arte contemporanea Luigi Pecci in Prato, Italy. Conceived as both a record and an extension of the exhibition, the volume offers an immersive introduction to an artist who has rapidly become one of contemporary art’s most distinctive voices.

The book’s title, “Satura” refers to the Latin roots “satura lanx,” a platter filled with first fruits for the gods that gave rise to a mixed literary genre, and the modern Italian word for “saturated” or “filled.” Both meanings resonate deeply with Fratino’s work, as the book is indeed a visual and thematic feast, overflowing with the rich, intense palette and layered narratives that define his art.

Fratino is known for paintings, drawings, and sculptures that center on intimate domestic life and contemporary queer experience. The catalog is organized around his profound connection to Italy, a country that has provided him with a deep well of imagery and sensibility. This connection is not merely geographical but cultural and emotional, as the book showcases works drawing inspiration from 20th-century Italian artists like Filippo de Pisis and Mario Mafai, the landscapes of Rome, Milan, and Genoa, and the poetry of Pier Paolo Pasolini.

Within these pages, Fratino uses a language of bold, high-contrast colors and a semi-Cubist figuration that recalls painters like Picasso and Matisse. Yet his subject is firmly his own: he places the male body and queer life front and center, using a historically-loaded visual language to tell contemporary stories that are tender, erotic, and defiantly personal.-Efi Michalarou