In the course of his all-too-brief career, the Italian artist Gino de Dominicis (1947-1998) was frequently characterized as an enigmatic enfant terrible, whose terms of creativity seemingly required the sacrifice of conventional career strategies. Positioned at an emphatic remove from the Arte Povera and Transavanguardia movements, De Dominicis rarely, if ever, allowed his marvelous portrait drawings, tempera-and-gold-on-panel paintings and sculptures to be documented; he eschewed catalogue publications and eventually even exhibition. Since his death, as his influence on subsequent generations of Italian artists has become evident, efforts to revaluate his work have led to retrospectives at MoMA P.S.1 in the United States and the Museo Nazionale Delle Arti Del XXI Secolo in Italy. Figurative Theorems was published for a posthumous exhibition of De Dominicis" graphic works at the Venice Biennale, and contextualizes this body of work with essays and photographs.