Go Figure: is the fashion illustration exhibition which showcases the brightest young talent across the field of fashion. This exhibition brought together more than sixty works by thirteen international fashion illustrators who work in a variety of media, from the digital to the hand-drawn via the physical. Most of the featured illustrators bring influences from other disciplines including fashion design, graphic design, photography and film, which provide an insight into a creative field that is truly multi-faceted. What bound this group together is the level of attention to detail, craftsmanship and execution, demonstrated through traditional and innovative approaches to materials and process. Richard Kilroy, Artaksiniya’s, Tara Dougans, Lesley Barnes, Laura Laine, Eugenia Alejos, and Cristian Grossi. His ‘Insecta’ series takes the illustrated image a step further through the use of animated gifs.
Go Figure: New Fashion Illustration was curated by Ligaya Salazar (Victoria and Albert Museum) and Polona Dolžan (indipendent curator). The exhibition series was devised by Magdalene Keaney.
SlashStroke Magazine Interview — «My work is kitsch and I like that it is a little insecure, for me illustration is the right combination of spontaneity and dedication. I drew a lot at High School, especially during History lessons, I think because of the Etruscans, now I’m happy they were so boring. I used to read manga art books and copy the figures, especially the female nudes which I drew by request on the diary’s of my classmates.»
Cristian Grossi, The insekta series, 2011. Chinese ink + gif 89a
« Someone told me a great illustrator should have his own style, very recognisable, I don’t care so much for this theory, I try to explore something new each time I get a job however small a thing it is.»
« There is an interesting conflict between art and craft. It’s the thing I like in this work, the absolute non-logical but rigorous technique behind it. You must know and understand all the rules to destroy them in the creative process. I think in my field, when you obtain total abstraction whilst maintaining the communication impact, this is a kind of poetry. The abstraction is to make metaphors with the lines and colours. In semiotics, the medium is the message, in Illustration the first medium is not the paper or the pencil but the illustrator himself. » Read all.
VOGUE Magazine — The canvas is for the artist the basic medium to give life to their artwork. Cristian Grossi has left conventions behind and crossed over confining territories, as in fabrics used as canvas in its most intimate meaning: self-expression, an instrument to embellish and to communicate thanks to a sharp graphism.
The latest five headscarves from the Ariel for Pinko collection are true illustrated tables realized by Italian designer Cristian Grossi. Retro embellishments inspired by Erté, lysergic colors and figures stolen from a dream-like imaginary world recreate a contemporary mood with a strong visual impact, thanks to a basic and hesitant trait, that defines a balance between kitsch and a new formal elegance.
Balancing between art and fashion, these 15 square inch headscarves printed on super-pure cotton are little artworks that embellish dresses, accessories and also walls, for a few lovers, like a real, precious painting. Cristian Grossi has thus skillfully created a transversal artistic language, constantly evolving, that enables to intertwine the textures of art, design and fashion in a single concept-product.
Cristian Grossi, The insekta series, 2011. Chinese ink + gif 89a
With such artworks that feature a strong graphic and aesthetic dynamism, Cristian Grossi take part in the exhibition Go Figure: New Fashion Illustration, hosted until July 14th in the spaces of the Fashion Space Gallery, within the London College of Fashion, as one of the best fashion illustrators on the international scene. By SELENE OLIVA See more
