Alessia Iannetti's dark fairy tale on display in London with The Little Boy and the Glowing Globe

From February 14 to 28, 2019, Dorothy Circus Gallery in London is hosting The Little Boy and the Glowing Globe, a solo exhibition by Italian artist and illustrator Alessia Iannetti (Carrara, 1985). For this occasion, Iannetti presents twelve miniatures made with graphite and watercolors on paper, representing illustrations of the fairy tale The Little Boy and the Glowing Globe written by Swedish musician Anna von Hausswolff and her sister, filmmaker Maria von Hausswolff. Alessia Iannetti created twelve illustrations for this surreal fairy tale, creating a link between the writers’ words and the evocative language of her art.

Among these miniatures, two works in particular stand out: The Weep and The Glowing Light. These are two works that show some crucial fragments of the narrated story: the tears of suffering of a child with a trapped soul and his subsequent rebirth through the light of hope. The Glowing Light, in particular, is the ’illustration that closes the series of drawings. This represents the final moment of the story, in which the main character finally becomes free to roam the world through the light he has found within himself.

The story of The Little Boy and the Glowing Globe tells of an entire existence lived in the darkness of a room. This story remains suspended in a remote place, and in this darkness there is nothing to reveal it. Mysterious and ill-defined characters lodge in the rooms and landscapes of the tale, which nevertheless remains ambiguous and suspended in a mystical dimension. The revelation happens when the protagonist changes into a spirit; his eternal search for light begins here. A night parade and a sad melody will guide the infant’s saving spark through shining objects that break the darkness and introduce us to a revelation: a silent passage from matter to spirit, through fear and into stillness. This story is part of the Stories for Ways & Means charity publishing project, published by Waxploitation Records and illustrated by Alessia Iannetti. The project is dedicated to children in war-affected areas of the world and was assembled over the course of ten years by Jeff Antebi, founder of the California-based record label Waxploitation Records. This colossal work, combining music, visual art, and literature took the form of a 350-plus page storybook, complete with multimedia content, and featured as of authors such Rock music stars as Nick Cave, Tom Waits, Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), Kathleen Hanna (Bikini Kill, Le Tigre), Pixies frontman Frank Black, Laura Marling, Devendra Banhart, Alec Empire, Alison Mosshart (Kills, Dead Weather), Eugene Hutz (Gogol Bordello), Gary Numan and many others.

Proceeds from sales of the book will be donated to Room to Read, 826 National, Pencils Of Promise and WAR Child, literary organizations that focus on children’s literacy around the world. The Little Boy and the Glowing Globe creates a sublime and dreamlike scenario beyond space and time, which Alessia Iannetti’s similar atmospheres have materialized visually. The artist states about this project, "When I read The Little Boy and the Glowing Globe by the von Hausswolff sisters, I knew immediately that it would be the perfect story for me. Reading between the lines of the fairy tale I could pick up on every darker and more elusive detail, I sensed a familiar, dreamlike and mysterious atmosphere that was somehow part of me, and that accompanied me slowly through the story. The fable of the ghost child and its unfamiliar scenarios reflected the intimate dimensions of my paintings, so much so that it seemed to have been written for me and for that moment."

Alessia Iannetti attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Carrara, where she was a student of Omar Galliani. Her works are pervaded by a nocturnal mysticism, inspired by the dark notes of Anglo-Saxon Dark imagery (to which the artist makes precise reference by paying homage to the titles of her works authors such as Smashing Pumpkins, Joy Division, The Cure, Hole...) but they suggest an extremely elaborate theme of the Shadow that carries within itself, both the sublime liberty of the painting of Vittorio Corcos, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Fernand Khnopff, and the hypnotic “personal,” romantic and dusty figure of the photography of Margaret Cameron, Lady Hawarden and Lewis Carroll himself, emphasizing a spontaneous theatricality of the characters. Throughout his career he has exhibited in Italy, Europe and the United States and has worked for such titles as Hi Fructuose Magazine, Juxtapoz Magazine and Beautiful Bizarre.

For more information about the exhibition you can visit the Dorothy Circus Gallery website.

Pictured: Alessia Iannetti, The Glowing Light (2014; graphite and watercolor on paper, 15 x 15 cm)

Alessia Iannetti's dark fairy tale on display in London with The Little Boy and the Glowing Globe

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