rosa – FTN-blog

It is a rare find to have found this 2 months ago. This is a book which was published during the best years of the “Figuration Libre”. This special artist book was published in an edition of only 1000 copies . I doubt that it was an authorized edition which was published by Fernando Pellegrino and Saverio Perozzi, but there is no doubt about the artistic quality that oozes from the pages. Quick sketching and written text in print, making a complete story on 92 pages.

di rosa libro a

On the cover an auto portrait of Di Rosa and page after page filled with typical Di Rosa art. My guess is that not too many copies will have survived the 36 years of its existence, which makes this one of the most collectable Di Rosa publications and an absolute MUST for the avid “Figuration Libre” collector/ enthousiast.

Schermafbeelding 2019-10-16 om 14.18.15

Di Rosa is the artist from the LIBERATION LIBRE group who arguably has been influenced the most by the original comic art from the previous French decades in comics. He even published some comics on his own. A bit like Raymond Pettibon also publishes his own comics. In an interview he tells the following to the interviewer:

“The great names in comics have affected me every bit as much as the great painters I love.” Growing up in the 1960s, relatively isolated in Sète on the French Mediterranean coast, Hervé Di Rosa got his culture fix from reproductions of fine art in books and from comics. “I saw no difference between them in scale or validity.” Starting to exhibit his art in 1980, Di Rosa with his brother Richard and Robert Combas drew on their passions for both art and pop culture to pioneer the radical French ‘Figuration Libre’ movement in the 1980s. Unlike most earlier Pop artists, who were not necessarily raised on comics, Di Rosa explains, “I don’t cite comics in a superficial way, I incorporate their techniques into my work.”

Personally i think the works by Di Rosa are too much like comics. I prefer the Combas works with the heavy outlines around his subjects , making his works stand out and recognized instantly. Still the Groninger Museum liked Di Rosa his works so much that they devoted a nice exhibition on Di Roda and published ” LES AVENTURES DE HERVE ET RICHARD ” in 1986. This and other Di Rosa publications are available at www.ftn-books.com