Renato Leotta

Renato Leotta, born in 1982, in Turin, currently lives and works between Acireale and Turin, and was the Italian Fellow at the American Academy in Rome in 2019.

Renato Leotta is drawn to the natural phenomena, the moon, the stars, the ocean, tides, and plants, all of which are the most prevalent components of Romantic poetry, regularly deployed to metaphorical, allegorical, and ‘objective correlative’ effects. Leotta’s works are acts of observation, due to the use of the landscape as a subject. As an archaeologist of the Real, Leotta tries, through his process of observation, to identify and circumscribe a series of images, visualised through different media, that although being related to a specific time and space, contain a universal character. Moreover, by presenting the viewer with images that do not centre on narration, he works around and resists the limitations of cliché.

Leotta’s solo exhibitions include: CONCERTINO per il mare, Castello di Rivoli, Italy (2023); Sensibilità, Le Quai, Monaco, France (2023); MACTE, Termoli, Italy (2022); Castello di Rivoli Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, Turin (2020); Galleria Fonti; Naples (2019 & 2015); Magazzino Italian Art and Casa Italiana Zerilli- Marimò, NY (2019); Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen (2018); Madragoa, Lisbon (2017 & 2016), among others.

Group exhibitions include Mattatoio, Roma, Italy (2023) MAXXI, Rome (2021); Fundaciòn Santander, Madrid (2019); Gropius Bau, Berlin (2019); Palazzo Fortuny, Venezia (2018); MASP, Sao Paolo, Brazil (2018); Manifesta 12, Palermo (2018); Madre, Naples (2017) Le Galerie Centre d’Art Contemporain, Noisy-le-Sec, France (2016); BOZAR, Bruxelles (2015), among others. Leotta is a co-founder of CRIPTA747 and Istituto Sicilia.

In 2022 Renato Leotta participated in the 17th Istanbul Biennial and at Luci D’Artista, with an installation for a project with the city of Turin.