From Italian publisher Editoriale Corno to Marvel Comics, this is the evolution of an illustrator that learned to read through comic books.
It all began in Lucca, where Simone Bianchi was born in 1972 and where he still lives. Since he was
a child he has been fascinated by the world of illustration, reading the comics of “Corno”, the
publishing house that was the first to bring superheroes like Spider-Man, Daredevil, the Fantastic
Four and Batman to Italy.
This was a passion of Simone, which soon became his profession. Already at the age of 15 he
published his first strips in the newspaper "Il Tirreno”. At 20 Simone began the study of realistic
drawing and at 22 he collaborated with “Sergio Bonelli Editore”.
In 2000, while teaching at the International School of Comics in Florence, he published "ECHI", his
first official portfolio. In those years he also collaborated with “Direct2Brain of Latina”,
specializing in 3D design, dealing with scripts, storyboards and the study of characters for some
video clips such as "Stop the Train" by 99 Posse, as well as designing the covers of some heavy
metal music CDs.
"THE ART OF SIMONE BIANCHI" was published in 2002. In 2004 Simone's first work was published: "EGO
SUM", a science fiction story whose second volume was published - in various European countries - in
2005.
In the same year Lucca Comics & Games - the International Fair dedicated to comics, animation,
games, video games and fantasy and science fiction - celebrates Simone in two ways: by setting up
his first solo exhibition entitled "Profeta in patria" (Prophet in his homeland) and by having him
create the poster for the 2005 edition. Simone also publishes "ONIRIKA" , his third art book.
It is in this year that Simone begins his collaboration with the most important American comic book publishers. For two years he worked for DC Comics, for which he created covers for Green Lantern, Batman and Detective Comics, as well as the miniseries Shining Knight.
In 2006 he signed an exclusive contract with Marvel, for which he drew 6 issues of WOLVERINE, including the significant number 50. The following year he produced 6 issues of ASTONISHING X-MEN. For this project he was entrusted with the task of redesigning the official costumes of the X-Men. His line was used by Marvel for the next 6 years in the various titles concerning the mutants. Together with Jeph Loeb, in 2009, he gives life to the new Wolverine's enemy: ROMOLUS.
His works, meanwhile, go around the world. From the Museum of Palazzo della Penna in Perugia to the
Galerie du 9ème Art in Paris through the Chuck-Jones Gallery in San Diego - California.
In 2010 he drew the miniseries in 6 books THOR FOR ASGARD and the following year in 3 books FEAR
ITSELF: UNCANNY X-FORCE.
The collaboration with Jeph Loeb on WOLVERINE returned in 2012. In the 4 issues they will realize together, they created a new female figure close to the mutant - REMUS - the second character created by Simone for Marvel.
During 2013 Simone Bianchi worked on the 5-book miniseries THANOS RISING, which describes the development of the Titan's personality starting from his birth and the very first years of his life, with texts by Jason Aaron. The CArt Gallery of Rome dedicated to Simone an exhibition in 2013.
In 2014 he created 3 issues of NEW AVENGERS. Soon after, he starts working on THOR AND LOKI: THE TENTH REALM, part of the ORIGINAL SIN project.
The cover of "The Avengers" # 24 made in black and white was sold by Christie's Paris Auction in 2014
In 2015, some STAR WARS covers are commissioned by Disney - later acquired by Lucas Film. These include the publication of STAR WARS #7.
The prestigious art gallery Danish / Corey Gallery in New York City - which has exhibited among
others painters such as Picasso, Dali and Matisse - dedicated a solo exhibition to Simone in 2015.
The following year he created, for Marvel, 6 issues of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN.
In 2017, Simone was selected (he was the first Italian illustrator to be so) by Upperdeck for the 2018 "MARVEL MASTERPIECES" project. This initiative makes use of the best talents to reinterpret, every two years, the best known characters of the Marvel world. The incredibly extensive processing for the "MARVEL MASTERPIECES" project took Simone a year and a half, but in the end his 135 portraits in addition to being published all over the world, were also exhibited in both the 2018 edition of Lucca Comics & Games and at the Metropolis Gallery in New York City.
That same year, Simone worked on the 6-issue miniseries SHARKEY THE BOUNTY HUNTER. This story will
soon become a film for NETFLIX.
Also, he did a nine page story “Our day of doom and victory” included in the top seller “Fantastic
Four” #1.
At the beginning of 2020, Simone Bianchi exhibited with a solo show of over 30 works including pencils and paintings for the Marco Lucchetti Art Gallery in Lugano.
Still in 2020 Simone painted a 8-page story “The war within” for The Joker 80th Anniversary celebrative issue.
In the same year, the authoritative Vincenzo Mollica, curated the personal exhibition "SIMONE BIANCHI AMAZING TALENT" at Palazzo Vitelli in Sant'Egidio - Città' di Castello. His paintings, original and unpublished plates, more than 220, were on display for over a month and a half with an exceptional turnout of the public.
Simone has dedicated part of 2021 to music. He created for Caparezza both the variant cover of the album Exuvia and the painting from which the pop-up contained inside the vinyl was taken. He also created the official poster for the TOOL concert on February 10, 2022 at the FTX Arena in Miami.
In May 2022 Simone Bianchi will return to exhibit for the "Marco Lucchetti Art Gallery" of Lugano
with the exhibition "Bipolart" together with Pau, frontman of Negrita.
Heritage auction house, in June 2022, beats the price of the original cover of "Amazing Spider-Man"
#1 depicting Spider-Man with Carnage and Venom at a record price of $19,200.
In July 2022, the Scarlet Witch created by Simone is chosen by Upperdeck as the exclusive print for San Diego ComiCon.
Around the same time, Simone was contacted by the manager in charge of the Smashing Pumpkins' image
for their tours. He had seen the illustration done in February for Tool and asked Simone for his
artwork for the poster for the November 7 Denver date.
Thanks to the carte blanche that manager and band gave Simone, the painting created has iconographic
references reminiscent of both the band's historic covers and Moebius's dreamy tracts. The
Chicago-based group liked the final image so much that they did not request any changes. Rolling
Stone Italy devotes an entire gallery to the news.
With the start of 2023 arrives from Todd McFarlane the news that the covers of the Spawn saga, on
which Simone had been working for about a year, will all see the light of day in the same month -
February - deputing Simone as the first Italian chosen as "Artist Spotlight" for Image Comics to
have the honor of being able to narrate the various aspects of Spawn in all the character's
dedicated publications. Spawn#339, Gunslinger#17, Scorched#15 and King Spawn #19 are just the first
four covers Simone has done for Todd McFarlane, two more are planned for 2023.
Thanks to the friendship established during the year of work with Todd himself, Simone had the
opportunity to exhibit the original covers exclusively worldwide in Rome at CArt Gallery with a solo
exhibition "The Devil in the details: Spawn by Simone Bianchi."
Throughout the month of March 2023, in addition to all the originals, preliminaries and preparatory
sketches of the four covers published in the U.S., the two covers not yet published were also on
display for the first time. Moreover, to make the exhibition reserved for Spawn even more unique,
Simone re-interpreted three covers of the historic title: issues #1, #8, #250. Finally, to make the
appointment even more exclusive, during the opening day of the exhibition, the first official CGC
event in Italy dedicated to Simone with Spawn albums was organized.
Extensive media coverage accompanied this event: from the double-page spread of the cultural
supplement of "La Repubblica," Robinson; to the news coverage of Sky Tg 24.
At the same time Simone was invited as an international guest to the Mega-Con in Orlando - Florida.
The convention was celebrating 25 years since the publication of 300 by Fran Miller. Simone made a
variant cover for the occasion and participated with Miller in the celebratory meeting with the
public. This cover and Simone's future work was covered by Tg 1 Rai in the 8 p.m. edition of March
18, 2023 with an average audience of 4.5 million listeners
From April 28 to May 1, 2023, Simone for the first time exhibited at Comicon in Naples with a wide selection of his drawings and paintings that will have music and harmony as a common thread: "The Music of Bodies." A passion for music has led Simone to collaborate with big names in the Italian and international music scene such as Smashing Pumpkins, Caparezza, Tool and 99 Posse. The harmonious style of painting that has always been his hallmark is the second soul of this exhibition of more than 50 pieces. Together with his friend Michele Salvemini - aka Caparezza - he talked about "When Music Draws" in front of a warm and very large audience that flocked to the splendid setting of the Flegrean Arena of the Mostra D'Oltremare.
The success at the Naples Comicon made Simone's "The Music of Bodies" exhibition an important building block for the first edition of the Bergamo Comicon, which with Brescia is Italian Capital of Culture 2023 in June of the same year.
In 2023 - from July 21st to November 12th - curated by the Livorno Foundation and under the patronage of Lucca Comics & Games, the exhibition "L'arte dei Supereroi" ("The Art of Superheroes" ) is being held at the "Granai" of the Fattori Museum in Livorno. More than 120 works including paintings, drawings, preliminaries and interior pages. This is the first time in Italy that a representative of the ninth art exhibits alongside the great authors of the 19th century.
“I have restarted playing the drums and I feel that what I play ends up in what I draw, even if I can’t explain how, and I’m convinced that it will happen more and more in the future.”
In 2004 Lucca Comics & Games - the International Fair dedicated to comics, animation, games, video games and fantasy and science fiction - celebrated Simone by setting up his first solo exhibition entitled "Profeta in patria" (Prophet in his homeland). His works in 2009 go around the world. From the Museum of Palazzo della Penna in Perugia to the Galerie du 9ème Art in Paris through the Chuck-Jones Gallery in San Diego - California.
The CArt Gallery of Rome dedicated to Simone an exhibition in 2013.
The 135 original portraits created for the Upperdeck Marvel Masterpieces project were exhibited at the Metropolis Gallery in New York and during the 2018 edition of Lucca Comics & Games.
At the beginning of 2020, Simone Bianchi exhibited with a solo show of over 30 works including pencils and paintings for the Marco Lucchetti Art Gallery in Lugano.
In the same year, the authoritative Vincenzo Mollica, curated the personal exhibition "SIMONE BIANCHI AMAZING TALENT" at Palazzo Vitelli in Sant'Egidio - Città' di Castello. His paintings, original and unpublished plates, more than 220, were on display for over a month and a half with an exceptional turnout of the public.
In May 2022 Simone Bianchi will return to exhibit for the "Marco Lucchetti Art Gallery" of Lugano with the exhibition "Bipolart" together with Pau, frontman of Negrita.
In the same year, his works are exhibited at WOPArt in Lugano, the art on paper fair.
In March 2023 as a world exclusive, Simone exhibited at the CArt Gallery in Rome the original
covers created for Image Comics's Spawn Universe.
"The Devil in the Details: Spawn By Simone Bianchi," six original covers, preliminaries and
preparatory sketches, re-interpretations of three historical covers the issues 1,8 and 250; for
a total of more than 30 works on display. Simone was the first Italian to have the honor of
being able to narrate the various facets of Spawn in all the character's titles: SPAWN,
Gunslinger Spawn, Scorched and King Spawn.
From April 28 to May 1, 2023, Simone is exhibiting for the first time at Comicon in Naples with a wide selection of his drawings and paintings that will have music and harmony as a common thread: "The Music of Bodies." A passion for music has led Simone to collaborate with big names in the Italian and international music scene such as Smashing Pumpkins, Caparezza, Tool and 99 Posse. The pictorial harmony that has always distinguished his stroke is the second soul of this exhibition of more than 50 works.
The success at the Naples Comicon made Simone's "The Music of Bodies" exhibition an important building block for the first edition of the Bergamo Comicon, which with Brescia is Italian Capital of Culture 2023 in June of the same year.
The most important exhibition of 2023 is surely the one being held in Livorno from July 21 to November 12 at the "Granai" of the Fattori Museum at Villa Mimbelli in Livorno: "The Art of Superheroes "under the patronage of Lucca Comics & Games. Curated by Prof. of the University of Florence , Giorgio Bacci, the exhibition-with its 120 works including paintings, preliminary drawings and interior pages-is presented as the first example in Italy of side-by-side with the great masters of the 19th century. "For the first time a representative of the ninth art exhibits alongside the great authors of the Fattori Museum." With more than twenty previously unseen works, four world premiere works, and an immersive room created by Art Media Studio that actually animates Simone's pictorial universe as if inside a movie film, the exhibition moves the concept of sharing live art even further.
All of Simone Bianchi’s works are characterized by a distinctive pictorial aesthetic that makes them recognizable. By combining the skills of a painter and the craft of an illustrator, he has created a style that readily demonstrates his fondness for chiaroscuro. Discover Simone’s full gallery, from interiors to covers, from sketches to finished illustrations.
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