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“Art is work.” – Milton Glaser
In this first monograph on the work of Beppe Giacobbe, the artist reminds us that “illustration is a service.” His ironic, conceptual, provocative, and ambivalent drawings are a testament to his unparalleled visual problem-solving skills. Like a film soundtrack, Giacobbe’s illustrations set the tone of a text, signaling its potential tensions, contradictions, or problems: we see an Orthodox Jew perched atop a roll of barbed wire, an astronaut carrying a bucket containing the entire universe, a sports car with snails where there would normally be wheels. With great simplicity and lightness, Beppe Giacobbe offers a worldview that invites us to reflect on the current state of things.
This collection of over 250 illustrations is subdivided into key topics—alienation, hope, identity, etc.—and sorted alphabetically like a visual dictionary. The book’s user friendliness remains faithful to the concept of service, such that the reader gains a better understanding of the artist’s point of view and the origins of his figurative style, which has garnered him widespread esteem and continues to win over new fans from the up-and-coming generation.
Beppe Giacobbe
Beppe Giacobbe was born in Milan in 1953. After studying at the Accademia di Brera in Milan and School of Visual Arts in New York, he returned to his hometown in the nineties, where he now lives and works.
His work has been featured in numerous exhibitions including the Original Art Show at the Society of Illustrators in New York (2004), which also continuously featured his work in exhibitions between 2006 and 2012.
He is the recipient of multiple awards including the gold medal for best illustrated children’s book of the year from the 3×3: The Magazine of Contemporary Illustration (2005) for Nobody’s Diggier Than a Dog (Hyperion Book, 2005) and the gold medal in the book category from Communication Arts (2009).
Giacobbe has illustrated several books including Catalogue des adieux (Edition du Rouergue, 2008), Clang Clang, Beep Beep: Listen to the City (Simon & Schuster, 2009), Petit chat noir a peur du soir (Bayard Editions, 2011), Un cane in viaggio (Orecchio Acerbo, 2011).
He has worked with United Airlines, illustrating some of their most famous campaigns, and has contributed to the New York Times, The New Yorker, and many other publications. He contributes regularly to the Corriere della Sera and the Courrier International, in addition to pursuing his own highly personal projects—such as completing rigorously black-and-red illustrations for a copy of the Bible he found on the streets of Manhattan. |
