(L'Unità, 17 February 2011)
______________________ Walking with Mattotti
Angouleme!
"The comic is made of paper, books. The desire to touch the subject, to get lost in the image are closely related to this means of expression "Lorenzo Mattotti begins entering the Musée de la Bande Dessinée d'Angoulême. That 's where we have agreed to meet Sunday, the last day of the International Comic Festival which devotes a lot of surprises this year. As the Palme d'Or for best roll won by Italy Manuele Fior and his 5000 kilometers per second (Coconino Press, 2010).
"I appreciate this talented young man who experimented with different techniques" says, "that is always looking for the most appropriate form to tell its stories. For example in the 'previous ( Miss Else , Coconino Press), since the adaptation of a story by Arthur Schnitzler, pays homage to the great artists of the Viennese Secession. So we can find a sudden, explicit references to the imagery of Klimt or Mucha, for to two names. The award-winning work, which has a flavor reminiscent of the graphic England of the sixties, I loved the story especially delicate and sensitive. A bubble can be described as almost an existential novel. "
But a sign that evolves not always run the risk of not being recognized?
"Actually, no. The personality of an author - what we call style, and that a formula is not given once and for all - it comes out very slowly. It 's good to keep working, find ways to express themselves are always different. It means having the ability to reinterpret and not to repeat only empty forms for speech recognition that certainly is related to visibility, which, however, primarily a commercial value. "
And the meaning of the Grand Prix awarded to Art Spiegelman?
"An award that had finally arrived. With Spiegelman won, again, the comic strip and research, what they do not retreat even in the face of self-reflection as a specific language. And Spiegelman, with his being author, scholar and adviser, is a perfect embodiment.
This gives us the opportunity to talk back to the museum. What are the elements that make it so interesting?
"I think that gives an answer satisfactory to the question: how to expose the comic? The mode of presentation is so oriented to the release, allowing a complete and satisfactory use of the material. The original plates are not just hung on a wall. You can get closer to the shrines in order to better appreciate the stroke of pencil or ink, which is important for an insider. But at the same time is all based on the original. There are prints made with care and all of excellent workmanship, the books for which these cartoons were made. So even the simple fan can be started in all phases of a comic book. Had I had the opportunity to have this information when I started to draw, "he adds laughing. "I remember once I went to Bonvi to show him my drawings and he, noting that all written in my balloon was wrong, he suggested to draw some parallel lines in pencil. A simple thing, which I had just thought. "
The visit continues. Stroll through the other visitors, then you sit in one of the spaces dedicated to reading with colorful sofas round tables near where they rested picture books that can be freely consulted. And that's where Lorenzo Mattotti shows us proofs of his forthcoming book: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn that he designed when he was 23 years and has been published, but then never reprinted, by Octavian in Publisher 1978.
when you find it in bookstores?
"In France will be released next spring with Gallimard. In Italy we'll see. "
back to Angoulême, what did you find most interesting?
"There is a staff dedicated to Dominique Goblet. I really appreciate his way of drawing. Each section expresses strength, allows you to see the work of the muscles which it is based. Each sign is like a moment of her life put on the page and the resulting narrative is confused with life itself. Then there is the exhibition on Nouvelle Bande Dessinée Belge francophone , of \u200b\u200bwhich Goblet is part of the same. I knew them years ago, during a seminar, when they were all students at the school of Saint-Luc in Brussels. In short, I saw them born, grow and destroy the narrative method and rigor of the classical comic and its codes, to cross over into other areas closer to illustration and painting. The exhibition that sums up their journey. "
On the other hand, the contemporary art exchanges today with so many references to the comic ...
"Yes, but while they pursued a job in the same language of comics, studying first at the bottom rules and then deconstruct them, what I annoys the other side is that you take only the superficial appearance of BD. Because they are a bit of consolidation. The figure has almost disappeared and the painter who designed the image really works, who has the savoir-faire, which are not illustrators, animators and cartoonists. Contemporary art is now more interested in: installation, object, space. "
Silvia Santirosi
Silvia Santirosi