Fabrizio Dori is an Italian comics artist. He started as a painter but switched to comics to focus on storytelling. His works include the comic books ''Gauguin: The Other World'' (2016), which is about the artist

Paul Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramist, and writer, whose work has been primarily associated with the Post-Impressionist and Symbolist movements. He was also an influ ...

, and '' Il dio vagabondo'' (2018) and ''Il figlio di Pan'' (2023), which are about a

satyr In Greek mythology, a satyr (, ), also known as a silenus or ''silenos'' ( ), and sileni (plural), is a male List of nature deities, nature spirit with ears and a tail resembling those of a horse, as well as a permanent, exaggerated erection. ...

in the modern world. Several of his works concern issues of modernity and meaning.

Life and work

Fabrizio Dori studied art at the

Brera Academy The Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera (), also known as the or Brera Academy, is a state-run tertiary public academy of fine arts in Milan, Italy. It shares its history, and its main building, with the Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan's main public mu ...

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

in the early 2000s. He worked as a painter for around a decade, exhibiting works that mixed figurative and abstract techniques. He has named

Marcel Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, ; ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, Futurism and conceptual art. He is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Pica ...

as an influence and made what he calls "colourful, but rather cold" paintings of impossible architecture and machines. Dori had read comics as a child but lost interest as a teenager. He rediscovered the format in his 30s and published his first comic book, ''Uno in diviso'' (), in 2013. He made a biographical comic book about the French painter

, ''Gauguin: The Other World'', published in 2016. The pictures and colours are inspired by Gauguin's paintings.

SelfMadeHero SelfMadeHero is an independent publishing house which specialises in adapting works of literature, as well as producing ground-breaking original fiction in the graphic novel medium. SelfMadeHero's books are distributed in the UK by Abrams & Ch ...

published it in English in 2017, as part of a series of biographical comics about artists. In 2018, Dori published '' Il dio vagabondo'' (), a comic book about the

Eustis who is left wandering the modern world, searching for traces of

Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

. Dori intended it as a single volume, but his fascination with Greek mythology prompted him to make a second comic book about the same character, ''Il figlio di Pan'' (), which was published in 2023. The Eustis books can be read as two standalone works that together form a cycle. Dori describes the first as a brightly coloured work that begins in the summer and journeys toward death, whereas the second begins during a winter night and moves toward spring and rebirth. The comic book ''Le Divin Scénario'' (), with a script by Jacky Beneteaud and art by Dori, was published in 2021. It is a comedic story about the

archangel Archangels () are the second lowest rank of angel in the Catholic hierarchy of angels, based on and put forward by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite in the 5th or 6th century in his book ''De Coelesti Hierarchia'' (''On the Celestial Hierarchy'') ...

Gabriel In the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), Gabriel ( ) is an archangel with the power to announce God's will to mankind, as the messenger of God. He is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and the Quran. Many Chris ...

and the

Annunciation The Annunciation (; ; also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Annunciation of Our Lady, or the Annunciation of the Lord; ) is, according to the Gospel of Luke, the announcement made by the archangel Gabriel to Ma ...

. The art is inspired by

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

. A recurring theme in Dori's works is an unbalance in the modern age and human struggles to fill the voids left with the disappearance of pre-Christian religions. In his treatment of Gauguin, he stresses that Gauguin's decision to leave the West partially was about the divinities of Polynesia. Dori is critical of what he views of unsuccessful attempts to fill these voids with things that are not sacred, such as political cults of personality, profit or consumption. His own suggestions for what can create balance include dreams, poetry and myths. He says he abandoned painting because he felt it did not bring any meaning, and that only storytelling can do that. He says it is important to interpret and use symbols; among his influences for this, he names

Friedrich Hölderlin Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin (, ; ; 20 March 1770 – 7 June 1843) was a Germans, German poet and philosopher. Described by Norbert von Hellingrath as "the most German of Germans", Hölderlin was a key figure of German Romanticis ...

, "" by

Heinrich Heine Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; ; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was an outstanding poet, writer, and literary criticism, literary critic of 19th-century German Romanticism. He is best known outside Germany for his ...

, ''

The Birth of Tragedy ''The Birth of Tragedy Out of the Spirit of Music'' () is an 1872 work of dramatic theory by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. It was reissued in 1886 as ''The Birth of Tragedy, Or: Hellenism and Pessimism'' (). The later edition contai ...

'' by

Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher. He began his career as a classical philology, classical philologist, turning to philosophy early in his academic career. In 1869, aged 24, Nietzsche bec ...

, and theories by

Carl Jung Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and psychologist who founded the school of analytical psychology. A prolific author of Carl Jung publications, over 20 books, illustrator, and corr ...

and

James Hillman James Hillman (April 12, 1926 – October 27, 2011) was an American psychologist. He studied at, and then guided studies for, the C.G. Jung Institute in Zürich. He founded a movement toward archetypal psychology and retired into private practic ...

Selected publications

* ''Uno in diviso'', 2013 * ''Gauguin: The Other World'' (''Gauguin. L'autre monde''), 2016, in English 2017 * '' Il dio vagabondo'', 2018 * ''Le Divin Scénario'', 2021 * ''Il figlio di Pan'', 2023

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dori, Fabrizio 21st-century Italian painters Brera Academy alumni Italian comics artists Italian comics writers Italian graphic novelists Italian male painters Living people Year of birth missing (living people)