SIMONE BIANCHI: VILLAINS AND SUPERHEROES January 9, 2015 • Steve Gray

Lovers of villains, superheroes and all things comic related are in for a real treat this month as the Danese/Corey Gallery in New York present an exhibition of works on paper by the master of comic book art, Simone Bianchi. Entitled Villains and Superheroes: Works on Paper, the exhibition promises to be a dream come true for aficionados of the work of Simone Bianchi and his highly individual style of working revealed in his expert use of rendering drawings in ink washes or watercolour halftones. On view at Villains and Superheroes: Works on Paper will be a number of preparatory sketches along with finished works featuring images of characters that Simone Bianchi has become closely associated with such as Wolverine, Batman, Dr Doom, Storm and Medusa.

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Works on Paper Browsing the images of works on paper by Simone Bianchi, one can’t help but admire the impressive techniques that have been used to create these Villains and Superheroes. Perhaps the art of comic book drawing is seen as some kind of lower form of art compared to fine art and in days of computer enhanced graphic drawings that sometimes appear to lose their very soul, Bianchi demonstrates a passion and love of drawing that can transcend those narrow minded boarders. These works on paper exist as pure drawings, superbly rendered with the aforementioned ink and watercolour washes along with pencil and acrylic paints to create images that can be appreciated as standalone works of art.

Simone Bianchi Simone Bianchi was born 1972 in Lucca, Italy, where he still lives and works from to this day. Apparently his love of comic book characters developed in childhood when he spent much time copying and tracing illustrations of character such as Spiderman, Batman, Superman, Daredevil and the Fantastic Four. His teens saw Bianchi start to have cartoons and comic strips printed in regional and national publications in Italy that led to him meeting comic book artist Claudio Castellini, who became a mentor and teacher to the young artist. Eventually Simone Bianchi was to work for some of the top Italian publishing houses such as Bonelli, Phoenix and Comic Art while also working on record cover images for the likes of heavy metal bands Vision Divine and Labyrinth that saw international acclaim. While a teacher of Anatomy for Comics at Scuola Internazionale in Florence, he had his first book published, titled Echi, that gathered together recent artwork images and was followed up by two further books, The Art of Simone Bianchi and Onirika.

Marvel 2004 saw Simone Bianchi first produce work for DC Comics and Marvel in the United States, Seven Soldiers: Shining Knight becoming his first published work there in 2005. That same year saw Simone Bianchi sign an exclusive deal with Marvel that has seen him producing images for stories involving Wolverine, Thor, X-Force, Thanos, New Avengers, X-Men and producing cover art work for Spiderman, Fantastic Four, Deadpool, Black Panther, Avengers and recently Star Wars.

Villains and Superheroes at Danese/Corey Gallery Villains and Superheroes: Works on Paper by Simone Bianchi opens at the Danese/Corey Gallery on January 9th 2015 and runs through until February 7th, 2015.

Photos courtesy of Danese/Corey Gallery.