Mother Road

Mother Road is more than just a book. It’s the life of Luigi “Raptuz” Muratore in pictures: his own pictures to be exact, from his first graffiti in the hinterland of Milan, to his latest works, which have been praised by critics. His teacher was the street, the Mother Road. This monograph is divided into sections, and within each it is possible to discover Raptuz’s various human and artistic facets. Before making space for the pictures, the artist tells us about his passion for “writing,” which came in a flash and which was cultivated in suburban decay, always on the lookout for the police. The events follow one another: the “krew,” the years in Los Angeles, coming back to Italy, the first awards. Passion becomes art. “We were outlaws:” the first glimpse into his art goes back to the time Raptuz was considered an outlaw, not an artist, and his work seen as vandalism, not art. “100% wall” is dedicated entirely to graffiti and the more “street” angle of Raptuz’s art. “Spray & more:” the artist made various spray paintings on canvas on the most varied subjects, as well as vector art, in addition to his distinctively gothic, raw and linear fonts. “Century icons” is the artist’s homage to a few personalities, real and fictional, who have featured in his life during the passage from adolescence to adulthood, and who have contributed to shaping the person he is now.