One day, evening: in bookstores the new dot comic strip by Giacomo Nanni

Released on May 21, 2024 in bookstores and on the website of Rulez publishing house, Un Giorno, le soir, the new book by Giacomo Nanni (Rimini, 1971), an Italian but Parisian by adoption cartoonist who is considered one of the most significant authors of contemporary comics. Published in May 2023 in France under the title Un jour, le soir, now Rulez brings to Italy for the first time the story of economic, social and sentimental precariousness of a young man who lives by eating a croissant a day because he cannot make ends meet. It is a story that unfolds over three days: today, yesterday and the day before, in which the boy whose name is unknown wanders the streets of Paris in the light of sunset, when the “sky has already begun to change color” and the Sun reminds him of “a fifty-cent coin, precisely.” We see him getting on and off the metro, entering a supermarket to look for something very special, withdrawing 400 euros at an ATM, and walking alone with the “delight in making the world dirty” with his "budget problems. But most of all, we see him wandering in search of a red-haired girl whose name he remembers what he told her and who he was happy about meeting, but whose face he cannot remember.

Following him through obsessions and memories that drag him through the streets of the French capital as he waits to resolve his predicament and discomfort, the reader witnesses a true inner monologue of thoughts, memories, daydreams, and reflections.

One Day, Evening is a story for images and words, where the texts are almost always side by side with the plates and the balloons inside the vignettes are very few indeed and used to highlight a particular moment in the story. The images, either full-page or in groups of four squares, further characterize the author’s particular and recognizable style: each panel consists of five sheets of transparent acetate, on which Nanni draws thousands of dots with the Uniposca until an image is created that is composed through the overlapping of the sheets. The final image is thus given by the overlapping sheets one on top of the other, on each of which the author has drawn the different elements of the resulting composition. The figures are often silhouettes filled with color using the pointillism technique, giving the reader an entirely personal view of the settings depicted. The layout is reminiscent of a photo book, translating the three days of the narrative into a “deconstructed” comic strip.

A touching and at times delirious tale that lets one into the mind of the protagonist.

Title: One Day, Evening
Author: Giacomo Nanni
Produced by: Rulez
Pages: 96 in color
First edition: May 21, 2024
Format and binding: 21 x 28 cm hardback
Price: 20.00 Euros

Author’s Notes

Giacomo Nanni (Rimini, 1971) has published several comic and illustrated books and collaborated as an illustrator with Le Monde, La Revue XXI, Alternatives Economiques, Louis Vuitton and others. Several exhibitions dedicated to his work have been organized in Italy and abroad. Among other awards, with Act of God (Rizzoli Lizard, 2018) he won the Prix de l’Audace at the Angoulême International Festival and Everything is True (Rizzoli Lizard, 2021) won the Best Comic Book Award at TCBF. His most recent picture book, Le miroir aveugle, was released in April 2024 in France by La Partie, a publisher specializing in children’s and young people’s literature. He lives and works in Paris. www.giacomonanni.com

The exhibition

On the occasion of the release of Giacomo Nanni’s new book, produced by Rulez, until June 7, 2024 Squadro Stamperia Galleria d’Arte in Bologna is hosting Giacomo Nanni’s solo exhibition One day, in the evening, which displays, in collaboration with Galerie Martel in Paris, more than sixty original drawings. Also on display is the latest folder in the Squadro Edizioni Grafiche series with twelve silkscreens printed on art paper.

Below are some images of the plates.

One day, evening: in bookstores the new dot comic strip by Giacomo Nanni

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