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LUCCA COMICS & GAMES 2024 PAYS TRIBUTE TO THE TOUR DE FRANCE WITH KARL KOPINSKI'S EXHIBITION DEDICATED TO THE GREATEST CYCLISTS OF ALL TIME
Kopinski's art kicked off the Tour de France with an exhibition dedicated to the world's cycling heroes, a series of giant installations in the city of Florence.
The Tour de France started this year in Italy for the first time in history.
Tursday 9th July 2024, Florence, Italy: The exhibition “Karl Kopinski: Remporter le Jaune” is dedicated to the great heroes of international cycling, created by one of the most important illustrators in Europe. Hosted at Florence's Palazzo Strozzi Sacrati, the city from which the Tour celebrated its Grand Départ this year, launching for the first time in Italy, the exhibition features over 30 works and can be visited for free until 21st July.
"Karl Kopinski: Remporter le Jaune” celebrates the british artist’s love and passion for cycling. Kopinski has created in his unique style, a series of portraits of cyclists who have etched their names into the history of the sport: from Gino Bartali to Fausto Coppi, the french riders Anquetil and Poulidor, Marco Pantani, Eddy Merckx, and the recent greats, Mark Cavendish, Bob Jungels, Bradley Wiggins, Tadej Pogačar and many more.
Accompanying the exhibition is a special installation which will occupy Piazza Duomoi. Twelve giant transluscent coloured marbles containing some of Kopinski's most representative works will be on display in front of the Dome of Florence, one of the most visited attractions in the historic city.
"Karl Kopinski: Remporter le Jaune” is organized by Lucca Comics & Games, the biggest pop culture event in Europe with which Kopinski has been linked for many years. The exhibition is promoted by the Tuscany Region, with the contribution of the European Regional Development Fund for Sustainable Mobility and the Interreg Italy-France Maritime Program.
The exhibition can be visited from Friday 28 June until 21 July and will be open from Monday to Friday from 10.00am to 12.30pm and from 2.00pm to 4.30pm and on Saturdays from 10.00am at 12.30pm.
Karl Kopinski is one of the great world masters of illustration. Originally from Nottingham, he soon came into contact with the leading miniatures publisher of the time, Games Workshop, and great artists like the Perry brothers and the master John Blanche.
His advances into the world of drawing began when he attended a fine arts course in Sunderland, after which he returned to his hometown armed with pens and ink. After a fruitless attempt to become a comic book artist, in 1997 he poured his efforts into the world of fantasy illustration and started working for Games Workshop Design Studio, where he remained for ten years, working on the great Warhammer and WarHammer 40,000 franchises. His years spent in the studio allowed him to mature into one of the most recognised and respected illustrators in genres such as fantasy and historical.
After years in the studio, Kopinski had become a famous public figure and his art – ranging from extraordinary historical depictions to high fantasy and science fiction – flooded the world of games publishing, from work for publishers like Wizards of The Coast and Rackham to videogame concepts for Electronic Arts and THQ. In 2009 he started work on Waterloo, one of his masterpieces: the painting kept him busy for two years and ended up in director Peter Jackson’s prestigious art collection. In 2012 he helped create the image of Edward Kenway, the main character in Black Flag, the fourth instalment of Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed saga.
At the same time, he began a close collaboration with CMON, developing covers, interior illustrations and character concept designs for many of the international publisher’s productions, including Cthulhu: Death May Die, The Godfather, Narcos, Zombicide: Black Plague, Night of the Living Dead: A Zombicide Game, and The Others.
A guest at Lucca Comics & Games in 2014, he returned as guest of honour in 2015, and created the official poster with the iconic traveller discovering real and fantasy worlds, which has always distinguished the international festival.
As a huge fan of cycling and portraits, he has combined these two passions to pay homage to the great names in this discipline, with all its effort, sweat, hard work and stories of men and women.
About Lucca Comics & Games 2024
Lucca Comics & Games is the most important pop culture event in Europe, a unique community event of its kind in the world. The event is dedicated to comics, games, video games, animated cinema, fantasy fiction, illustration and TV series, under the direction of Emanuele Vietina.
A very rich program divided into 5 days, from 30 October to 3 November, made up of hundreds of events, tournaments, game sessions, exhibitions, concerts, fashion shows, Italian and international guests, but above all a community event created by hundreds of thousands of fans and visitors who meet every year in one of the most evocative historic centers in the world: Lucca. “The largest geek gathering in the West” (Variety), this is Lucca Comics & Games, an event with 58 years of history behind it, dedicated to contemporary pop culture and new mythologies. Community, Inclusion, Discovery, Respect, Gratitude: Lucca Comics & Games has been based on these 5 values for years, shared between authors, audiences, guests and partners.
The 2023 edition ended with 315,470 tickets sold and 741,428 attendances, not counting the over 13,000 accredited professionals.
Over the years, Lucca Comics & Games has tried to integrate as much as possible into the cultural context of the city, developing formats, proposals, creative and promotional ideas aimed at enhancing the artistic-monumental heritage of Lucca, enhancing these riches within the exhibition offer and cultural aspect of the event, experimenting with the contamination of different languages and media, in the name of a unique transmedia event in the world. The walls, the squares, the historic buildings, the medieval alleys and the mysterious undergrounds welcome the participants, the great sagas and all the partners of the event who together make up the large community of Lucca Comics & Games, ready to live an unparalleled experience .
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