Massimo Rotundo
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Massimo Rotundo (born 11 April 1955) is an Italian comics artist.
After attending the Academy of Fine Arts in his native city, Rome, he made his debut as comics artist in 1978 in collaboration with Eura Editoriale. Later he worked for other publications, like L'Eternauta, Comic Art, Orient Express, Heavy Metal and Ècho des Savanes. In particular, Rotundo stands out for his erotic comics, with the series Ex Libris Eroticis, which recalls the tradition of illustrated erotic literature from the early 1900s. His growing reputation in the erotic comics genre led him to work in the French market as well, where he is well known and appreciated.
He is also widely appreciated for his adaptation of literary masterpieces, like Honoré de Balzac’s novel La peau de Chagrin, Pasolini (based on Jean Dufaux's script) and Luciano De Crescenzo's The Greek Myths.
In Italy his work includes several projects with Sergio Bonelli Editore, starting with his drawings for the comic book Brendon. He also became the official cover artist of Bonelli, starting from the 45th issue of the series. In 2007 he worked as comics and cover artist for the mini-series Volto Nascosto, also published by Bonelli. Furthermore, he collaborated with the writer Giuseppe Ferrandino as comics artist for Nero, Sandokan and Sera Torbara. He also worked with French publisher Delcourt on the comic book Prediction with a script by Pierre Makyo.
Rotundo is one of the founders, as well as a teacher, in the comics Academy “Scuola Romana del Fumetto” in Rome. He works regularly in cinema and theatre: as illustrator, he has collaborated with the costume designer Milena Canonero in several films and plays. As sketch artist he has worked for the films Crusade by Paul Verhoeven, Titus by Julie Taymor, The Wolfman by Joe Johnstone and Gangs of New York by Martin Scorsese. He has also worked as character designer for animation films, like the series Ulysses, produced by Rai (the State-owned Italian National broadcasting company) and “The Animation Band”.
He has several awards to his credit, such as The Yellow Kid (1990), as best Italian comics artist, the Gran Guinigi from Lucca in the same year, and the F. M. di Trani, City of Foiano award (1992).
