One of the most unforgettable childhood memories many of us probably share is reading, or watching, Peter Pan: who, amongst us, has never dreamt, at least once, of opening the window and flying away together with Tinker Bell and all the others, leaving behind a bewildered pet and a messy room?
But what was the key ingredient that made it possible to fly? A happy thought.
As if it were easy. A happy thought in these uncertain and weird times is very rare, it is almost an act of rebellion against reality. It is – mutatis mutandis – a flying donkey, an archetypal character that this year is embodied by Elisa Talentino: a floating, pastel-colored donkey that, with his hat, invites us to a delightful end-of-summer party (and by party it is meant “Concorto”).
Quoting the artist:
The poster I created for Concorto 2022 was born out of a childhood desire, that is to say, to ride a magical animal able to fly away so to take us to fairy universes.
I chose to represent two young people: I imagined them as preadolescents, in that blurred age in which playing still dominates one’s days, but in which first loves are already being experienced. There is the subverting of the rules of reality, starting from the boy who chooses to ride the donkey backward so to be able to get lost into the girl’s eyes, to the almost unconscious flying of the animal, that has wings but that comes off the ground almost unknowingly, floating away.
The donkey, last but not least, is all dressed up, so to recall the traditional celebrations that take place in southern Italy, right where he is chosen by the young couple as their enchanted ride to get away, recalling the sudden escapes of lovers in the past.
Elisa Talentino (Ivrea 1981) is an artist that works with illustration, graphic art, painting, and animation.
She created illustrations for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Yale University press, Bloomsbury Publishing, Goethe Institut, Arizona Theatre Company, Einaudi, Mondadori, La Repubblica, Corriere della Sera, Il sole 24 ore, Bompiani, Il Saggiatore, edizioni e/o, Favini, and many others.
Her works were selected by the New Yorker Society of Illustrators (2019-2020), American Illustration (2021) by Bologna Children Book Fair (2015), and Ilustrarte – International Biennial of Illustration of Lisbon (2014). She also won for two years in a row (2017 and 2018) the Gold Medal in the 3×3 International Illustration Awards, New York.
She is specialized in printmaking: through screen painting, she creates printings with experimental painting and engraving techniques.
Her works have been featured in several exhibitions, both in Italy and abroad.
Her last picture book, “Quando il mondo era tutto azzurro” (When the world was blue), a children’s book made with Sara Gamberini, was published by Topipittori in October 2020.
She lives and works in Turin.
www.elisatalentino.it
