Andrea Pazienza (; 23 May 1956 – 16 June 1988) was an Italian

comics artist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the literar ...

and

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

Biography

Early life

Pazienza was born in San Benedetto del Tronto,

province of Ascoli Piceno The province of Ascoli Piceno () is a province in the Marche region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Ascoli Piceno, and the province is bordered by the Adriatic Sea to the east, the province of Fermo to the north, and it faces the regions ...

, in 1956. Growing up in his father's town of

San Severo San Severo (; formerly spelled Sansevero and previously known as San Severino; ; ) is a (municipality) of inhabitants in the province of Foggia, Apulia, Southern Italy. Rising on the foot of the spur of Gargano, San Severo adjoins the communes ...

in Apulia, he enrolled in 1974 at the Department of Arts, Music, and Entertainment of the

University of Bologna The University of Bologna (, abbreviated Unibo) is a Public university, public research university in Bologna, Italy. Teaching began around 1088, with the university becoming organised as guilds of students () by the late 12th century. It is the ...

Career

He made his debut in the spring of 1977 in the magazine ''Alteralter'' with his first comic story, "Le straordinarie avventure di Pentothal" (Pentothal's extraordinary adventures), the

surrealistic Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

and psychedelic story of an alter ego named after the sedative Penthothal. He later participated in such editorial experiences as ''Cannibale'', '' Il Male'', and ''

Frigidaire Frigidaire Appliance Company is the American consumer and Commercial area, commercial home appliances brand subsidiary of multinational company Electrolux, a Swedish multinational home appliance manufacturer, headquartered in Stockholm. History ...

'', of which he was one of the founders. In these publications, he created hundreds of comics, influenced by American

underground comics Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books that are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority, ...

and

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...

. He was especially fond of the character

Goofy Goofy is a cartoon character created by the Walt Disney Company. He is a tall, Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic dog who typically wears a turtle neck and vest, with pants, shoes, white gloves, and a tall hat originally designed as a rumpled fe ...

, which he appropriated for a humorous spoof on Italian hippiedom of the 1970s entitled ''Perché Pippo sembra uno sballato'' ("Why Goofy Looks Like a Pothead"), and a later, unfinished story entitled ''La leggenda di Italianino Liberatore'' ("The Legend of Italianino Liberatore", referring to his old friend

Tanino Liberatore Gaetano Liberatore (born 12 April 1953), better known as Tanino Liberatore, is an Italian comics author and illustrator. His best known fictional character is RanXerox. Life and work Born in Quadri, Liberatore went to high school in Pescara w ...

). Pazienza developed a personal body of work, alternating between playful comic cartooning—at times politically charged–and much more elaborate, dark, disturbing

graphic novels A graphic novel is a self-contained, book-length form of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comics scholars and ...

, often dealing with drugs and wanton violence, with a scattering of

black humor Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

throughout. In 1980, he created the character Zanardi and collaborated with the magazines '' Corto Maltese'' and '' Comic Art'', while also producing movie and theatre posters, scene designs, record covers, and advertising. He was extremely prolific through the 1980s, penning hundreds of single-panel cartoons as well as longer, intricate stories usually centred on Zanardi. ''Pompeo'', his last graphic novel, which depicts the gradual downfall of a heroin addict (a largely autobiographical character) up to his eventual suicide, is generally considered his masterwork; the post-face to this work testifies that Pazienza tried to start a new life and, for a while, quit drugs.

Death and legacy

Andrea Pazienza died at age 32 in

Montepulciano Montepulciano () is a medieval and Renaissance hill town and ''comune'' in the Italian province of Siena in southern Tuscany. It sits high on a limestone ridge, east of Pienza, southeast of Siena, southeast of Florence, and north of Rome ...

, from a heroin overdose. The nonprofit association ''Centro Fumetto Andrea Pazienza'' was created in his honour to help young cartoonists develop their skills. In 2011, Andrea Pazienza was picked as the first of ''150 Italians'', a list of the country's most influential people, which was dedicated to the 150th anniversary of

Italian unification The unification of Italy ( ), also known as the Risorgimento (; ), was the 19th century political and social movement that in 1861 ended in the annexation of various states of the Italian peninsula and its outlying isles to the Kingdom of ...

.150 Italiani — Un progetto a cura di Fabriano boutique (2011)
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Selected works

* ''Aficionados'' * ''Andrea Pazienza'' (1981) * ''Le straordinarie avventure di Pentothal'' (1982) * ''Milo Manara e Andrea Pazienza'' (1982) – referring to Milo Manara * ''Zanardi'' (1983) * ''Perché Pippo sembra uno sballato'' (1983) * ''Pertini'' (1983) – an homage to former President of the Italian Republic Alessandro Pertini * ''Glamour Book'' (1984) * ''Tormenta'' (1985) * ''Cattive Compagnie'' (1985) * ''Glamour Book 2'' (1987) * ''Pazeroticus'' (1987) * ''Zanardi e altre storie'' (1987) * ''Pompeo'' (1987)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pazienza, Andrea 1956 births 1988 deaths People from San Benedetto del Tronto People from San Severo Italian comics artists Italian comics writers Italian magazine founders Deaths by heroin overdose in Italy