Comic tapestries
For the exhibition Women at Power dedicated to Catherine and Maria de 'Medici, Giuseppe Palumbo, one of the authors of Diabolik, signs an extraordinary science fiction adventure inspired by the myth of Artemisia. An editorial initiative that launches a new genre
At every age his comics, with or without words. TO Caterina and Maria de 'Medici the monumental tapestries designed by Antoine Caron; at the exhibition on the two Italians who ruled France (Women in power, Palazzo Strozzi, 24 October 2008 - 8 February 2009) the disturbing creatures of Giuseppe Palumbo, one of the authors of Diabolik
need Martin Mystère.
It is the first time that a major art exhibition (promotes and produces itSavings Bank of Florence, organizes it Strozzi Foundation) gives birth to a designer comic to make him a traveling companion. An initiative that is all the more daring, because if the exhibition is aimed at the traditional general public, Palumbo's pen is dear to a much more selected and cultured audience, a lover of history and the classics, especially science fiction, perhaps not very young, but certainly by age. most recent.
"The idea," he explains James M. Bradburne, director general of the Foundation, "is to update the theme of the exhibition, the millennial myth of Queen Artemisia and women in power, making Palumbo a cultural proposal aimed at a different audience. An audience capable of appreciating both the art of the past that the manifestations of modernity, even those apparently marginal ". EternArtemisia (editions Comma 22, pages 64, € 12) was presented today by Bradburne with Palumbo and the general manager of Ente Cassa di Risparmio Antonio Gherdovich.
"In common", explained Gherdovich, "French tapestries and Italian comics have precisely the central archetype, the figure of Artemisia, first lady of ancient Halicarnassus, elected as an instrument for the transmission of male power, from her deceased husband to her still unlucky son. A circumstance that unites Caterina and Maria de 'Medici, first queens and mothers, then regents, with countless other women of every social order. EternArtemisia actually reflects the very condition of women.
If the word is missing from the tapestries, the meanings of scenes, characters and symbols of a sixteenth-century imaginary inspired by Roman times are very clear: uniforms, armies, battles, condottieri, or the male pax ruled by the strength of weapons. As for Palumbo's Artemisia, it exploits all the comic books to lead the reader into a futuristic world, but not so different: a militarized and hyper-technological society, rigidly divided into classes, obsessed with safety, where for women there is only the gynoecium.
"I wanted to visually create a future that was very credible and concrete", explains Palumbo, "The result is a story in which the coexistence of different eras in relation to each other is very strong: the past that echoes in the future, which in turn it serves to reinterpret the present ".
This EternArtemisia therefore fits fully into the vein of committed science fiction, starting with the novels of Philip Dick, including Bladerunner. And it owes a lot to the Italian counterculture matured in the construction site of the monthly cult Frigidaire of Andrea Pazienza, Stefano Tamburini, Tanino Liberatore, where Palumbo made his debut in 86. Nor are the suggestions of masters of comics such as Moebius
(Jean Giraud), Jodorowski ed Enki Bilal.
The myth of Artemisia will also be revisited by the students of the International School of Comics in Florence, where Palumbo teaches drawing. Their drawings will be published on the website www.eternartemisia.org during the Palazzo Strozzi exhibition. As for EternArtemisia, it will also be presented in Lucca at the 2008 cartoon show (18 October - 2 November). In addition, Palumbo's original drawings will be exhibited at the Lucca Comics Museum from 31 October 2008 to 31 January 2009.
