Roberto Innocenti is one of the major contemporary illustrators.
A collaboration with the artist gave life to this exhibition, which pivots on the line of time and his poetics: “I get lost when dealing with words; instead, images are my world”.
And it is indeed through images that Innocenti reveals his soul, giving shape to Dante and Beatrice’s Tuscany, as well as to the land of Collodi’s wooden puppet. As a great innovator of Pinocchio’s iconography, the artist advances his own vision of Collodi’s masterpiece with unprecedented images that set the plot in the Tuscan landscape of the late 19th century.
Besides locations, time is at the heart of Roberto Innocenti’s exploration: the time of fairy tales and of history.
By following the girls featured in his books, we can go beyond the borders of our gaze and thought, paving the way to new questions and research. As the artist stated, “When I find an ʻAlice’ in the story, that’s what catches my attention; I think that we all have a bit of Alice in us that prompts us to go farther. She’s a good guide”. So, we come across Cinderella, who does not give up being part of the tale, and Little Red Riding Hood who, on the other hand, seems to be looking for a way out. We read of the vicissitudes of Rose Blanche and Erika, the protagonists of true stories to be known, condemned and never forgotten.
A true archaeological monument is represented by the House of Time, which holds the lives and memories of a country house on the Apennines, whereas we are taken on a voyage across the sea with My Clementine. While loving history, which in his view offers more hints than fiction, Innocenti masterfully advances enthralling interpretations of the great classics of European literature, such as Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and Hoffmann’s The Nutcracker.
The Last Resort is a true autobiographic, albeit visionary, tale, accompanied by more recent and earlier works, including the memorable 1905: Bagliori a Oriente.
