Tribute to De André

Coloured Pencil and Ink Pen on Paper

60×40 cm / 23.6×15.7 in, 2019

Not available

Tribute to De André was the last calligram I dedicated to Italian singer-songwriters.

I chose the image in which he is smoking because I wanted to create a fuller, more present portrait, different from the previous ones. Over time, Fabrizio De André has come to be seen as the quintessential Italian singer-songwriter, so I wanted the work to occupy the sheet more decisively, letting the face, the hand, and the cigarette fill almost the entire composition.

The presence of elements beyond the face made the work more complex, but by that point I had already gained enough experience to try. Without the portrait of Gaber, there would have been no Calligram series, and without all the other calligrams, there would have been no portrait of De André.