In early June, the design capital of Milan came alive with the official return of the International Furniture Fair. This year marks the fair's 60th anniversary, and illustrator Emiliano Ponzi has condensed silhouettes of Italian design from the 1960s to the present in six promotional posters. For the illustrator, who has been in business for more than 20 years, how to "create illustrations that resonate with everyone, including local and foreign visitors" is a key point of the design.

"From the very beginning, I decided to avoid simply spreading information and preaching, and focused on conveying the commemorative meaning and influence of Salone del Mobile through emotion," he said. To this end, Emiliano delves into the rituals and customs that have shaped the identity of Italy and Milan from 1961 to the present, condensing the emotions and ideas that have arisen within them into each poster. Milan's urban development, the tram, the rise of the Italian fashion industry in the "80s", as well as Milan's famous La Scala theater and the new Rho Pero exhibition venue, have become the attractive attractions of the exhibition. Interestingly, this series of posters has gradually moved out of black, white and gray tones with the deduction of each decade, and finally stepped into the "red and bright" visual quality, echoing the clear and unmistakable red logo and image color of the exhibition.

Emiliano is no stranger to Milan. Since 1997, he has moved from the small town of Ferrara in central Italy to Milan to study at the Istituto Europeo di Design, where he settled after graduation. For four years after graduating, Emiliano hid in his Milan apartment to concentrate on his illustrations, rarely doing anything else or leaving the house. "When I decided that I had to paint for work rather than for entertainment, everything became a point of no return." And the works born during this "practice" period were also assembled into a collection of works called "roxio", and in that era before the Internet, it was used as his "resume". It worked, and small Italian companies began to entrust him with advertising and editorial work. Later, agencies from New York also beckoned to him, making the New York Times, The New Yorker, Le Monde, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York as his clients, thus making him famous.

Today, illustrators are not the same as in the early years, only involving hand-painting and graphic printing. Emiliano, who has been applying painting software since his undergraduate days, can also be said to be the first "digital natives" in the industry. Therefore, when asked if he would make sketches with a brush now, he also laughed and said that even if he did, it would be "for my own satisfaction, not for work." Nowadays, he usually operates the tablet as soon as he receives a commission. Computer or computer to complete tasks in a faster and easier way. It is no wonder that his works, especially those related to current affairs, are regularly featured in magazines, newspapers and advertisements.

At the same time, his designs are also scattered in other fields: such as designing the pasta packaging for the food brand Barilla, the book cover designed by Haruki Murakami's "Abandoned Cat"; Fungible tokens (NFTs) have also become his canvas – just in time for Valentine’s Day this year, he collaborated with singer Giuliano Sangiorgi on a project titled Can I Love You? "(May I Love You), three short-form "paintings" with "kiss" as the theme. The brief, cinematic scenes show an emotion that everyone can recognize: the moment of waiting for a kiss. These fragments, full of space and time tension, not only hope to make people experience pure happiness, but also because of their characteristics, this moment can be repeated endlessly.

“At the time, I just wanted to try and see how it worked,” he explained. “Because of giving digital work an identity as much as physical art, it was really an interesting market from my point of view. "Of course, because the NFT field is still in its "rudimentary form", there are also places for him to worry, especially the lack of natural mechanisms under the option of purchasing NFTs. "These kinds of works are generally bought on an investment basis. That's understandable. But because everything happened so fast, in a way, it turned into a financial speculation rather than a All the passion in art itself."

Does this rapid entry into this new field mean that he is on the way of becoming an "artist"? Or does he still consider himself a pure "illustrator"? “Actually, I feel both, because I have a very professional attitude towards clients, but I create emotional work. So I solve visual problems in a creative way.

I use my rational mind as well as my emotional mind. He explains. He also realizes that the distinction between artist and illustrator has become smaller and smaller over the past 20 years. “Perhaps it’s because both categories serve an audience: the illustrator’s object. Magazines, books or advertisements, while artists target galleries, private collectors, activists. "

His work can be classified as a minimalist style full of clear, bold symbols and symbolic details; has also been described as the realist painters Edward Hopper and David Hockney's combination. For him, however, the "Tone of Voice" has actually evolved with his tastes and desires. "Intonation is the way we filter the world through our sensibility and experience," he explained. "It's a dynamic concept because we're never the same person, especially as we all change over time."

Article Source:艺术与设计

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