He is one of our great artists, author of some of the most beautiful children’s books that have been published in Argentina. But not only that. Besides, Pablo Bernasconi usually illustrates with his drawings and collagesthe pages of some of the most important media outlets in the world.
The list of his awards is endless. Among others, she has been a finalist for the Hans Christian Andersen Award (considered the Nobel Prize for children’s literature) and has received ten awards for excellence from the SND (Society of Newspaper Design).
From his initial profession, graphic design, he jumped into drawing many years ago; to encourage himself, later, to write his own books. He has unforgettable titles and characters for children, published by the most important publishers in Argentina and translated into dozens of languages.
But its audience is not exclusively children. A while ago, it opened an art gallery in Bariloche, the city in which he lives, and there he exhibits his works “for adults.” In fact, her career as an artist is gaining such momentum that “some know me more for these works than for children’s books,” she declares.
His imagination seems to have no limits. He is helped to create both by sailing on the southern lakes and by reading some of his favorite poets. A fan of literature, nature and music, as he explains, it is only about “generating a creative view of the world.”
He chatted with us about his techniques, his message and his relationship with culture. Here, the main moments of that conversation.
NEWS: There are immense illustrators who do not always receive the same recognition as traditional visual artists. Do you feel that way?
Pablo Bernasconi: It is true that illustrator career, as a trade, is based on the implementation in the media or in advertising, in a look towards its reader. On the other hand, the career of a fine art artist is usually more arbitrary, it is an expression that is not related to an industry. That’s why it seems to me that the craft of the illustrator has been greatly criticized compared to that of the painter or sculptor. The illustrator is a full-fledged artist who works with messages. He is immersed in a context, generating an opinion that is not going to be just introspective.
NEWS: Your most characteristic images include drawings, paintings and collage. What is your creation process like?
Bernasconi: It is a very hybrid process. There is a digital part, which I then transfer to paper. Enter there the collage. There are things that I paint and surround with wire. I photograph that and transfer it back to the computer. He goes back to the paper and I start painting it with acrylics, pencil, pastels. It is a hodgepodge that becomes more complex as the work progresses.
NEWS: You also write. When did you start making the complete books?
Bernasconi: It’s been 25 years since I wrote my first book. Because I illustrated authors who did not convince me. And I thought: “I think I can write this too.” There were also stories I wanted to tell and I couldn’t find anyone who could write them. Little by little I began to cheer up. The way I write has a lot to do with the way I illustrate. Humor, double meaning, and metaphor intervene in it. And that alchemy that I generate between text, illustration and design (I also design my books) is very organic.
NEWS: It is very interesting that their books for children do not leave the adults out.
Bernasconi: I always understood that children’s books, in reality, were books dedicated to families, that they read to children when they don’t know how to read and accompany the reading when they can already read. For me it is essential that the mother, father, aunt, grandmother enjoy reading in the same way as the child or more. Because that contagion of an aunt reading to her nephew is unforgettable. I remember my mother when she read me things that she, María Elena Walsh or Julio Cortázar, liked. I remember how much she enjoyed it and that made me love literature. It is very different when you are getting rid of that. It is very damaging to the relationship that the child will have with literature to understand that someone you love does not want books.
NEWS: What would you like kids to keep from your books? What idea, what feeling?
Bernasconi: Curiosity. For me it is the most important thing. Questions, in childhood, are the most powerful engines that these children will have when they continue to develop and generate their profession or their job. Sometimes that curiosity is extinguished in adults, because it tires you, because you get bored, because life hit you. From my experience I know that curiosity is what keeps me moving forward, searching and making mistakes.
NEWS: What changes when you work for adults?
Bernasconi: The mechanism is the same. I build metaphors and images through layers. These layers mix with each other and generate a multiplicity of meanings. What changes is that the winks sometimes have a slightly broader cultural perspective. As I make books for children including adults, I make books for adults including children.
NEWS: What are you working on at the moment?
Bernasconi: There is a character that I created, Captain Arsenio, who is an inventor who lives in Patagonia, in the year 1780. He is in charge of inventing the machines that we see today, such as airplanes or the microwave oven; in a very imaginative way and with zero resources. He is very Argentine. Two of the captain’s books came out and I refused for a long time to do another one. Now I’m doing a prequel. It is a complex book because the character is going to invent machines that humanity never achieved. Now I’m researching how to build a time machine.
NEWS: What artistic productions inspire you?
Bernasconi: I feed on literature, music, poetry. I also have a very close relationship with nature. I like sailing. I like everything that is sport without motors. I am a glider pilot. The effect produced by that almost hypnotic relationship with nature is much more tangential and much deeper than looking for things directly related to what you are doing.
NEWS: Today, creativity in young artists is threatened by the need to achieve recognition and celebrity.
Bernasconi: That is very damaging to any artistic manifestation. Be attentive to what the other person says and if the other person doesn’t like it, change, it’s terrible. And networks feed that. And even worse, when the other person likes what you do and you continue doing it because of that. This instant testing of “likes” is very dangerous. I never read the comments on the things I post, ever. I’m human, if I read them I would enter a black hole.
NEWS: Culture is experiencing a special moment today, in which its protagonists feel threatened. What is your reflection regarding what it means to protect culture for the kids, for those who come?
Bernasconi: Definitely, I understand that education and culture need support from the State; from a perspective where the State, with the best intentions, advocates for people to whom culture does not reach. The FNA (National Fund for the Arts), the INCAA, the INT (National Theater Institute) and the INAMU (National Institute of Music), were always pillars. I know this because I have been a juror in those institutions. They promoted careers that otherwise would not have existed and we would have missed wonderful events. That said, I also understand that in moments of darkness, culture bristles and generates unforgettable and transcendental manifestations. What we have to do now is defend culture with culture.
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