No theft, no daring escape. Tonight Diabolik leaves the underground of crime to move with his face uncovered, in the service of beauty and hope. It happens in Cagliari, in the Sala Archi of the Lazzaretto di Sant'Elia, where art meets civil commitment in an event that mixes comics, noir and charity: Homage to Diabolik.
There, in the heart of an exhibition celebrating the great masters of Italian comics with a focus on Corrado Mastantuono and Elia Bonetti, artists, illustrators and cartoonists will give shape to original interpretations of the King of Terror and his world: Eva Kant, Ginko, the city of Clerville. Dark, sensual, ambiguous images. But this time, behind the mask, there is no criminal. There is a gesture of love.
The works created will be donated by the artists themselves and sold to support the association Il sorriso di Piè, which promotes initiatives for the Oncohematology department of the Businco Hospital in Cagliari. A delicate name, “Piè”, which has the short and poetic sound of a caress.
Many have already answered the call: Daniele Serra with his visionary and spectral features, Manu Invisible who transforms urban language into lyrical sign, Massimo Dall'Oglio and his intense science fiction, and then Francesco Liori (Fr3nk), Bruno Olivieri, Guido Masala, Stefano Obino, Martina “Maya” Mura, Ermenegildo Atzori. Each with their own trait, each with their own shadow.
It is not the first time that the Academy of Art of Cagliari and the Cooperativa Sant'Elia 2003 choose to merge culture and solidarity. It had already happened with Rat-Man by Leo Ortolani. But with Diabolik the effect is stronger, because he is the archetype of the double, of metamorphosis. And transforming art into care is, after all, the most diaboliko of coups.
For those who want, it will also be the last chance to visit the exhibition on Italian comics, which will close its doors on June 29.
