"Born in a small town in central Argentina in 1957, to a talented family of Italian origin, Oscar Chichoni started drawing at a very early age and was encouraged at home especially by his father to develop his natural aptitude. Self taught he embarked on the long and arduous learning path of classical academia studying human anatomy, resolving technical problems of representation such as the behaviour of muscles, proportion, composition, use of colour, depth and transparency combined with a detailed observation of light and nature.
Aged 17 he had his first professional work published, comic strips for Record Editorial in Buenos Aires alongside the most famous comic artists of the time, like Alberto Brescia, Juan Gimenez and Juan Zanotto.
During the two years invested in fine arts at the atelier of Alvaro Izurieta, he experimented with different mediums and started developing the distinctive technique he is famous for, known worldwide through his illustrations for covers reproduced many times over, first published by Fierro magazine and Minotauro in Argentina.
During the eighties he moved to Europe and worked exclusively as illustrator of covers for books and magazines mainly for SF editions for Mondadori Editori in Italy, Metal Hurlant in France, Heavy Metal and Bantam in USA, El Pendulo, Minotauro and Nova in Spain.
His art ranks amongst the top in the genre of Science Fiction/Fantastic Realism having won the most prestigious international awards in his filed such as Mas Allá, best Argentine Science Fiction illustrator, Caran D’Ache, best illustrator at the International Exhibition of Comics, Animated Films and Illustrations at Lucca, Italy, Best Illustrator Award Barcelona, Spain, Best Cover Award Barcelona, Spain, Rotary Award for his contribution to Science Fiction, Italy; Best Illustrator of the Year XIV Eurocon (European Science Fiction Meeting); Best SF Artist of the Year, Fancon, Courmayeur, Italy; Best Fantasy Illustrator, Italcon, Republic of San Marino.
The style he is so well known for combines technique and meaning, intricate textures of dense rusting metal contrasting with the transparency of flesh; machine with live body.
His pictures require an active participation suggesting stories that engage and intrigue; like snapshots of a complex narrative the observer is compelled to guess; infinitely detailed surfaces demand a closer look, to discover colour, depth and transparency inside the many layers of texture, reminiscent of a delicate mechanism that compel the viewer to find out how it works."
Footnote: New Cafe Racer Society would like to send
great thanks to David who just introduced us to this amazing and innovative artist.
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