Artist Spotlight - Emanuele Gatto
Biography
Emanuele Gatto (1981) is a self-taught artist and a translator from the South of Italy, currently based between his hometown in Puglia (Italy) and Frankfurt. His interdisciplinary practice involves painting, performance, video and photography.
Sunset In Porto Selvaggio, 2025. Oil, acrylic and pencils on canvas, 145 x 185 cm.
His works have been exhibited in solo and collective shows in several art spaces in Italy and Germany, and are also part of private collections. In 2024 he founded together with Cosimo Caroppo Casetta Studio, a rural space for contemporary art in Apulia dedicated to queer art and the South.
At Some Point I wanted to run, but my heels were made of red soil and there was a weight on my head, 2025. Oil and acrylic on canvas, 110 x 155 cm.
Artist Statement
My interdisciplinary practice involves painting, performance, video and photography. I make art as a way to overcome normativity. I explore aspects of queer identity, origin and birthplace, peasants’ rituals and traditions, gender and sexuality.
Once upon a time in southern Italy in the centre of the Mediterranean there was a hole, through which glory would be achieved, 2024. Pencils/mixed technique on canvas, 130 x 190 cm.
Painting is for me a performative act in which the canvas itself becomes the extension of the body. I intend to use colours, lines and shape in a way that is not pre-defined but open to the unexpected. In my art and painting, I create a space for liberation.
Symposium, 2024. Oil on canvas, 110 x 155 cm.
Productivity Meets Profitability, 2024. Oil on canvas, 80 x 100 cm.
An Elusive Face, 2024. Oil and acrylic on canvas, 125 x 200 cm.
Neither This Nor That, 2024. Oil and acrylic on canvas, 140 x 188 cm.
Untitled, 2024. Oil and acrylic on canvas, 130 x 180 cm.
Dinner With Friends, 2024. Oil and acrylic on canvas, 140 x 200 cm.
Senza maschera, 2023. Oil and acrylic on canvas, 215 x 150 cm.
Natural Wine, 2023. Oil and acrylic on canvas, 88 x 160 cm (each)
Statico distico binarismo im-perfetto, 2023. Oil and acrylic on canvas, 88 x 195 cm (each).
Wearing Only A Red Thong, 2025. Pencils on paper 50 x 70 cm.
I've Made Some Bread For You, 2025. Pencils on paper, 29 x 42 cm.
Natura viva, 2019. Oil and acrylic on canvas, 115 x 110 cm.
