Lorenzo Mattotti has been doing comics for a little over 30 years. Only a handful of work is available in English, but it’s a handful of excellence. His work first gained notice to North American audiences, thanks to a couple of appearances in RAW and his books, Murmur and Fires. Mattotti’s work is that of a creative giant. He breathes a life into comics that utilizes an unparalleled skill set, resulting in stunning works of art. Fantagraphics has recently released Stigmata to a new generation of readers. Mattotti is truly a cartooning master. This interview was conducted over two sessions and makes up to be my longest interview yet, at over 3 hours after I mixed the music in.
Many thanks to Lorenzo for being so generous with his time. For a man whose English is his 3rd language, he was a fantastic talker. Also, thanks to Kim Thompson for playing the connector.
Lorenzo Mattotti will be appearing at the Toronto Comics Art Festival in May. A very rare appearance that should not be missed. His collaborative work with Lou Reed, The Raven will be debuting at TCAF.
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Great interview! A whole lot better when I sped up the audio a little 🙂
A few weeks ago there was an illustration forum at my university in the UK where Mattotti was a key speaker, interviewed by Paul Gravett. It was incredible to see such a wide spanning career- his Huckleberry Finn work from his early 20’s looks insanely different from his later stuff. Your interview complemented the other talk really well, it was a lot more personal and intimate in comparison. At the talk I went to Mattotti spoke more about his illustrated books, and his artistic/cinematic influence- his Divine Comedy and Pinocchio work looks gorgeous, if you haven’t seen it. And his work in http://www.mattotti.com/illustrated/index_c.php?page=stevenson_couv was amazing!
Which editions of Raw is Mattotti’s work in?
Thanks
Adrian
The second volume.
Alberto Breccia:
http://lambiek.net/artists/b/breccia.htm
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