“Malandrina” by Beatrice Brandini
Poster of the exhibition “Fino all’estremo” (Up to the extreme)
More than twenty years after the last exhibition, the genius of Andrea Pazienza returns to Bologna.
“Paz” monograph by Andrea Pazienza
On display over 100 works from the archives of people dear to him, such as his brother, sister, wife. But to enrich this extraordinary journey, there are also the beautiful photos of Enrico Scuro.
The exhibition, at Palazzo Albergati from 7 May to 26 September, will host tables made with markers, tempera, pencils, acrylics. etc.
Andrea Pazienza “Tutto Zanardi”
The title of the exhibition, “Fino all’estremo” (Up to the extreme), is a tribute to the first draft of what would become “Gli ultimi giorni di Pompeo” (Pompey’s Last Days,) perhaps the highest moment of Pazienza’s art and storytelling.
Andrea Pazienza was an extraordinary cartoonist, draftsman, illustrator and painter, but perhaps the most important thing is that he revolutionized and characterized comics in such an extreme and personal way, so much so that after him it was never the same.
Andrea Pazienza: Le straordinarie avventure di Pentothal
Of Marche origins, it is Bologna that adopts and consecrates it, using it, probably in spite of itself, as an emblem of the student revolution of the 1970s and of the political protest of those years.
Banner of the exhibition: “Trent’anni senza”, 2018
But Pazienza was much more. First of all, a rebellious spirit, little inclined to rules and impositions (just think that he leaves the university to take a graduation exam). With his comics, extraordinary, Pazienza provoked but also excited, leading the reader to reflect on themes such as love, death, the beauty of life. Perhaps it is precisely for this reason that some of his characters resemble “caricatures”, and others are extraordinarily beautiful, determining a style, that of the great Pazienza, which can be dramatic, poetic or humorous.
“Pompeo” Andrea Pazienza
My brother has always loved it, I remember that in the eighties he bought Frigidaire, a pioneering and somewhat revolutionary comic book magazine, which Pazienza himself had founded with the Cannibale group and with Vincenzo Sparagna. In that famous newspaper the character of Zanardi appeared for the first time. I, who was a child, found those covers very bizarre (I was not allowed to leaf through the magazine). A little later I realized how beautiful, true and modern, those stories were.
“Vignette” by Andrea Pazienza
The exhibition focuses above all on those who are the pillars of Pazienza’s work, namely Pentothal, Zanardi and Pompeo, but it is also a journey into the life of the artist who lived his most important years in Bologna, among student movements, politics , passions, loves and ART.
Zanardi by Andrea Pazienza
In the exhibition we can also admire the many album covers that Andrea Pazienza dedicated for example to Roberto Vecchioni (7 albums), to Enzo Avitabile, to PFM, to Amedeo Minghi.
Fashion in the years of Andrea Pazienza, by Beatrice Brandini
N.B .: but they could still be fine!
Among the things I have read in recent years, I want to quote a very personal (and very true) poem: “It is absurd to think that one day you will find yourself caught, when you haven’t read a book, or respected, if you have always unfairly. These are miracles that cannot happen, just as green will always be born from yellow with blue, not pink or brown: it is green. Mathematical green “.
Good life to everyone!
Beatrice