Turning motion into art using soft pastels and Olympic vigour
The first thing that stands out about Lorenzo Mattotti’s works is the explosion of vibrant colours and shapes. Each drawing is full of eye-catching detail, and it’s hard to know where to look.
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The Italian artist's work depicting running – in all its forms – is at the heart of a dynamic exhibition, "The Art of Running – Catch the Race", on show at the Angoulême Museum.
It is part of the Cultural Olympiad, a series of nationwide events combining sport and art in conjunction with the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“Lorenzo Mattotti excels at capturing dynamic movement with his portraits of swimmers and dancers," exhibition curator Marguerite Demoëte tells RFI when asked why this artist was chosen.
"We can really see how the bodies vibrate on the page."
In both large and small formats, Mattotti deftly captures the action and speed of running – a feeling of movement induced through the use of crayon, ink and pastels in layers of brush strokes and lines.
'Finesse and subtlety'
"Running is probably the most difficult motion to draw. There’s the acceleration of the body, the repetition. It’s an obsession that becomes quite hypnotic," Demoëte says.
"I think he manages this with a lot of finesse and subtlety."
Based in Paris for more than 20 years, Mattotti first became known to the French public through his graphic novels such as Fires (1986).
He is also an accomplished all-round artist, his illustrations turning up on the covers of magazines such as The New Yorker, Vanity Fair and Vogue, in award-winning animation films and even the official poster for the 2000 Cannes Film Festival.
His latest work can be seen on the posters and catalogues for the 2023-2024 season of the Dijon Opera House.
“The Art of Running” opened during the Angoulême International Comics Festival in January and is on display until 10 March.
Demoëte, the newly appointed artistic director of the festival, is proud to see the exhibition selected as a part of the national Cultural Olympiad.
Involving community centres and volunteers, the Olympiad events run parallel to the Olympic competitions and are designed to explore the connections between art and athletics, and the values they share such as excellence, inclusion, cultural diversity and universalism, according to the organisers.
In the words of Pierre de Coubertin, the French co-founder of the International Olympic Committee: it’s the meeting of "muscles and mind".
In this vein, Demoëte sought to create a dialogue between artistic disciplines by inviting award-winning French novelist Maria Pourchet to write short descriptive texts to accompany Mattotti’s works.
Naturally, part of the exhibition is dedicated to the symbol of the Olympic flame, from both historical and contemporary perspectives.
For Mattotti, the torch bearer is the one who leads the way in dark times, delivering a message of hope. War-torn landscapes appear in murky green, grey and black. But in the middle of each picture, a yellow and orange flame burns brightly – a guiding light.
For Pourchet, it’s the Ancient Greek story of Eucles, who ran 42 kilometres in record time to deliver a message of victory to Athens during the Battle of Marathon, thus inventing the birth of the legendary sporting event we know today.
She also imagines the story of a teenage swimmer preparing to represent her community in the Olympic torch relay. This reflects the participation of thousands of French people who will pass the torch to one another on its journey from Marseille to Paris, in time for the opening ceremony on 26 July.
Besides the Olympic connection, Mattotti and Pourchet explore running in other forms. From an instinctive reflex since the dawn of time to escape danger to leisurely joggers by the river to competitors testing their physical prowess in a race.
Running is portrayed as a popular activity – accessible in a way other sports are not; no special equipment is necessary. It can be done almost anywhere, solo or in groups, by men and women, young and old, at a fast or slow pace.
It is also a symbol of freedom, of emancipation, as Pourchet points out in her homage to women runners.
"What is interesting is the connection between sport and creativity, particularly with comics. We see many parallels," Demoëte says.
"Being a comic book writer means making things look easy by hiding the effort. It means starting over, failing, preparing – all of this echoes how sportspeople train their bodies."
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