Ivan Canu

Milan, Italy

Illustration

Illustration | about Ivan

about Ivan

Illustration | about Ivan

Bio:

​Born in Alghero, graduated in Modern Literature – history of spectacle in Florence. From almost 8 years I worked as critic, graphic designer and illustrator for the magazine Hystrio. Also I cured the imagine of the International Balzan Foundation. Since 2009 I’m one of founders and the director of Mimaster Illustrazione, Milan, Italy. Since 2017 I'm the curator of the Illustrators Survival Corner at the BCBF (Bologna) CCBF (Shanghai) MICBF (Moscow) In 2019 I'm the co-author of The Illustrated Survival Guide, book series edited by Corraini In 2021 I designed, written and illustrated the book GOD SAVE THE QUEEN for Centauria publisher Awards: AI website, 2008; Annual 38-2019, 39-2020, 40-2021, 41-2022 Communication Arts Award of Excellence, 2008 NY SOI Annual 58, 59, 60, 61 3x3 Annual 13, Book Annual 15; 16; 17;18;19 CQ Journal 50 (online), 53 (journal)

Clients Include:

​Gakken ▪ Médecins sans Frontiéres ▪ Bologna Children's Book Fair ▪ Castermann ▪ Die Zeit ▪ SEM ▪ Rizzoli ▪ Handelsblatt ▪ Feltrinelli ▪ Mondadori ▪ Einaudi ▪ Courrier International ▪ Discoveries ▪ Salani ▪ LatinFinance ▪ InvestmentNews ▪ De Agostini ▪ The Boston Globe ▪ Entrepreneur ▪ LEG edizioni ▪ Officina Libraria ▪ The Wall Street Journal ▪ Corraini ▪ Centauria Libri ▪ Discoveries magazine ▪ Audible ▪Laterza ▪ Pulse magazine ▪ L'Express ▪ Principi & Principi ▪ The Guardian Weekend ▪ BenefitsPro ▪ Pearson ▪ Arbiter ▪ Capital ▪ The New York Times ▪ Die Weltwoche ▪ La Stampa ▪ La Repubblica ▪ L'Espresso ▪ La Nuova Sardegna ▪ Il Sole 24 Ore

INterview with Ivan Canu:

From winning recognition at age four in Sardinia, to his degree in modern literature, he has always loved to combine his interests in art and literature. Entranced by books and magazines his parents brought home to the early influences of Disney to Japanese anime to the golden age of Italian illustration to the everlasting influences of Ferenc Pintér, Canu’s wok as author, critic, art director, graphic designer, illustrator, and educator engage many avenues that make his art stand out.
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Ivan Canu

Interview by Vaishali Dinakaran, 3X3mag.com ​ - Issue 28 
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​It was at the tender age of four that Ivan Canu’s artistic skills first drew attention and acclaim. The drawing—a mouse trying to fuel a car with water instead of gasoline—was entered by his mother in a contest run by a local magazine. Much to the delight of the Canu family, young Ivan’s rather cerebral take on the fuel crisis that plagued their hometown of Alghero in Sardinia, and indeed much of the world, won. His prize was a volume of short stories by Leo Tolstoy, proof, perhaps, that the contest was aimed at adults and not children. But the creation of the drawing itself and the book that he received, served as a foreshadowing of things to come, indicative of Canu’s love for literature and art alike. It was also a sign that from a very young age, he had a keen interest in the world around him. As Canu himself says, “I have a great curiosity about all things, and an interest in the interconnectedness of things.” It’s something that is evident in his work.

Canu inherited his love for the arts from his parents, who introduced both their children to the world of books, theater and movies. Along with his sister, he grew up indulging in the wonders of the imagination: whether it was playing an air guitar in make-believe concerts while pretending to be a member of “The Partridge Family”, or being transported to other worlds as he watched Kurosawa’s “Rashomon”, or trying to peel away the obvious and decipher the underlying metaphors in Melville’s “Moby Dick”. While art was something Canu pursued as a hobby—he remembers drawing battleships, cowboys, and portraits of friends and family members—his academic and professional ambitions lay elsewhere. “I wanted to be a professor or a journalist—an intellectual,” he says. 

That ambition was realized when, after graduating from the University of Florence with a Bachelor’s Degree in Modern Literature, with an emphasis on the history of theater, Canu began working as a theater critic for Hystrio magazine. Given that it was his first job, he was eager to please. So, when his editor asked if he could make a few illustrations for the magazine, he agreed, calmed by the fact that he did indeed know how to draw. A few months later, he was asked if he could also take charge of the magazine’s design. Once again, Canu answered with an enthusiastic “Yes!”. That it was beyond the scope of his formal education, didn’t deter him. After all, it was within the scope of his well-developed imagination. “Even if it was something that at the time I couldn’t do, I just said yes,” Canu, now 51, laughs at the recollection. And so he began spending his evenings after work at a graphic design studio, trying to learn the tricks of the trade in as little time as possible. He turned to friends who were graphic designers for advice. And getting to know the famed Italian illustrator Ferenc Pinter, who he often commissioned to do covers for the magazine, also influenced him. All of this helped Canu conjure up his own path: learning by actively creating.

Now, over two decades later, Canu has morphed from a critic-illustrator-designer to primarily an illustrator. In fact, he’s one of Italy’s pre-eminent illustrators. His editorial work has graced the pages of The Guardian Weekend, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times Book Review, L’Obs, L’Espresso and more. He’s co-written and illustrated a book that is considered essential to newcomers to the field—“The Illustrators Survival Guide”. And he’s the co-founder and managing director of the prestigious Mimaster Illustrazione school in Milan. Striking one profession off his list has in no way dulled Canu’s love for multitasking. It’s something that he believes helps him thrive. “I like a little pressure. I like having deadlines, and respecting them. I like it when I have a lot to do and very little time to do it,” he says. It’s this sense of discipline (which he says is one of the most important qualities for an illustrator to have) and a love for deadline-induced-stress that has resulted in some of his best work. “I am not naive,” he says, “I don’t wake up and decide if I’m in the mood to create. Instead, I just do.”

Look at some of those illustrations that have sprung forth from Canu’s highly disciplined— he uses the term “neurotic”— mind, and it is evident that his brain has been steeped in art and culture. He describes himself as a “sponge” —always eager to absorb everything around him. And all that he’s imbibed eventually filters into his own work. “Igor Stravinsky had this habit of taking bits of other people’s compositions and using 

them in his own work. But the resulting composition would be something uniquely Stravinsky,” he says. It’s a method he himself uses. But he’s quick to clarify that there’s nothing covert about it. Canu’s pieces are his own unique tributes to certain styles and cultures that have influenced him, while also fulfilling their function— that “the illustration must have a purpose, and serve to communicate something.” In fact, the manner in which he executes this makes me believe that he’s not so much a sponge as a teabag. He absorbs, creates, and in creating transforms, leaving his own distinctive flavor behind.
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Take for example a portrait of writer Nicole Krauss, made for L’Espresso magazine, that has a distinctly pop art feel. An almost comic-book style figure of Krauss occupies the foreground, while the background is dominated by a couple kissing, instantly reminiscent of Roy Lichtenstein’s “Kiss V”. Here, it’s the subject matter of Krauss’s books, which often deal with the interpersonal relationships between men and women, that have dictated the execution. The tribute to Lichtenstein is obvious, while the illustration serves to inform the viewer about Krauss and the type of work she does. There are plenty more examples of Canu’s love for connecting seemingly disparate elements that are visible in his work. In one illustration for “The Story of Communism in 50 Portraits”, Canu depicts Che Guevara in the same psychedelic manner that Milton Glaser depicted Bob Dylan. And in “The Liberation of Italy in 50 Portraits”, Gina Lollobrigida is seen striking a pose, with multiple outfits surrounding her. It’s reminiscent of Katy Keene comics, where the readers are invited to cut out the outfit they like best to paste over the protagonist.  

But perhaps the best and most exhaustive look into Canu’s mind and work can be seen in his latest book, that he has written and illustrated, called “God Save the Queen”. The book is Ivan Canu’s tribute to Queen Elizabeth II. “I wanted to do a book about her because she is one of those people who has been there in her role as head of state when so many of us, even though we might all be from different generations, were born. We all know her,” he says. But there was another more important reason behind his choice of protagonist. Queen Elizabeth is one of those rare individuals whose life and leadership has straddled decades. She has been around for nearly every single political, technological and cultural revolution that has direct bearing on our lives today. ​

​For Canu, then, writing and illustrating a book about the British monarch also became a way to view the world through the prism of her eyes, while also providing his own commentary on the world itself. In one illustration Canu harkens back to “The Armada Portrait” of 1588, transposing the Queen’s head onto her namesake Elizabeth I’s body. In a chapter that deals with the Swinging Sixties, when Beatlemania was at its heights, he depicts the Queen crossing Abbey Road, faithfully followed by her pack of beloved corgis. And then there is a portrait, done in the style of Gilbert and George, where Queen Elizabeth II stares out at a chess board, mimicking Beth Harmon from the popular Netflix Show “The Queen’s Gambit”. It’s classic Canu —influences that have transformed into homages. 

I ask Canu if this desire to pay tribute to things, and his love for layering different styles and stories, comes from his love for literature, where sometimes with each re-reading of a piece of text, new layers and meanings emerge. “Yes,” he answers. “But it also comes from my desire to turn every piece of illustration into a game for the viewer. Each time they look at it, I want them to find something new, and to think about the things that they find. And I really like to give them a lot to think about,” he laughs. And in order to give the reader a lot to think about, Canu himself agonizes over every detail of the final image before actually executing it. But the ultimate aim, he says, is that the amount of work that went into the finished product remain indiscernible. “The end result should look light and not heavy… effortless,” he says. After looking at page after page of Canu’s illustrations, I’m convinced that he has accomplished what he set out to. Instead of seeing the struggle that went into creating the work, I feel a sense of levity. Insouciance peeks out through layers of meaning. And I realise that I’ve been tricked. Which is exactly as Ivan Canu intended.