Alessandro Gottardo shouts out loud

Alessandro Gottardo was born in Pordenone in 1977. He studied in Venice and in Milan and he won numerous awards, particularly in the United States. Though his young age, he has already found a place in the history of visual communications. Among the others he worked for: Among the others he worked for: United Airlines, Volkswagen, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, TIME, Esquire, Newsweek, National Geographic, The New Yorker, Le Monde, The Economist, Guardian, Random House, Penguin Books.

 

His nom de plume (Shout) is really far from his soul and style; in fact he draws softly to convey heavy ideas; his drawings have a minimalist and sober look, they are pure in their essence and stripped of any useless adornments. Gottardo makes us believe that complicated concepts can be illustrated in surprisingly simple ways. The characters are sketched out enough to be recognizable; usually he chooses one background color for the setting and focuses on one detail. The reduction of the chromatic range and the contraction of compositional elements are the result of a huge labour involved in isolating the useful facts and bringing out the underlying idea. He believes the idea is more important than style. The style is important, because it identifies one illustrator, but it must be just the lipstick, a detail that enhances the beauty of the concept. Style may get old, while a good idea is a good idea always. When he approaches assignments which involve arguments of journalism, science, economics, he gets to the point by getting closer to the subject, putting it at the centre of attention, without any chance of misconstruction. He assembles visual elements that combine to form a metaphorical hybrid. The combinations are carefully selected to respond to precise communicative needs. We might mention a few examples: a shaped origami in the form of a scorpion (Toxic paper); a film like spilled guts (Pulp fiction).
The meeting with Franco Cervi, a brilliant graphic designer based in Milan and founder of 27_9 publishing house (specialized in experimental and graphical art books), created a strong professional relationship. With 27_9 Alessandro Gottardo published three books: Faces jetlag 1 (2006), Faces jetlag 2 (2007) and Mono Shout (2010).

On the occasion of a speech at IED in Milan, he prepared “The young illustrator’s guide to the galaxy”: an handbook rich in suggestions to manage to be a professional illustrator.

On December 21st he will discuss about illustration: "Leggere le figure. Extra" in Rovereto (TN).