GIPI, “astory” on exhibition

Gipi debuted in 1994 as an illustator on Cuore magazine, then he published some short stories and beautiful illustrations on Blue, La Repubblica, Internazionale, Lo Straniero and IlPost.it. In 2003 he published the collection Esterno Notte and in 2004 the graphic novel Appunti di una storia di guerra for Coconino, publisher of all his subsequent books: Questa è la stanza in 2005, Hanno ritrovato la macchina and S. in 2006, and in 2008 LMVDM – La mia vita disegnata male, the autobiographical work that finally established him as one of the leading authors of Italian comic, one of the most original of recent years. In 2011 he shooted the film L’ultimo terrestre and last year returned to comics with “astory”, the first graphic novel nominated for the Premio Strega 2014.

Astory tells, through a skillful use of ink and watercolor, two episodes of life distant in time shown in parallel, the one of Silvano Landi and that of his great-grandfather Mauro. The first is a successful middle-aged writer who sees his life shattered and, without a real reason, melts up alienating hospitalization in a psychiatric clinic. The other, Mauro, we know him through letters to his family from the trenches of the First World War, intense letters who has to deal with death and the desperate struggle for survival, fueled by a strong desire to return home to the loved ones. Two stories that make it one that takes shape in the eyes of the reader through the story of a journey of inner growth leading up to peace with themselves.

It is a delicate and introspective graphic novel that tells stories of alienation and rebirth through the use of a harsh drawing line, sometimes bare, as opposed to the strong colors of watercolors expertly executed. “A work that does not tend the hand to the reader, a comic book that is never condescending and leaves ample room for interpretation thanks to the mixture of different styles used to tell distant places and times of the story”.

The heart of the book is made up of six pages illustrated with silent landscapes of winter peaks and skies as a metaphor of the thoughts and feelings of the two protagonists. But I do not want to tell more about the novel, if not recommend the reading to savor charm of poetry that those pages suggest.

Interviewed recently, Gipi talked about the candidacy of astory to Premio Strega: “The awards are important to widespread works. But I am an author. My interest is mainly for the realization of the work, for the story and, somewhat lesser, for dissemination to readers. If Strega accept the nomination of Astory I would be happy, because people that would never approached it could come across it under their eyes. For the rest, an award does not change my idea of work done. […] For me its a good comic is a work where design and text work together to result in emotions for the reader. This work on two parallel tracks of equal importance I call it “writing” cartoon”.

Today you can admire the 107 original drawings “written” in a story at WOW Comics Space, where they will remain on display until March 16^th.