Episode 309 – Joe Ciardiello

Virtual Memories Show 309:
Joe Ciardiello

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“Everything Sergio Leone knew about Americans came from the movies, so he was let down when he saw American soldiers in Rome after the war. The heroic aspect was there, but he saw these guys for who they really were.”

Illustrator/artist Joe Ciardiello returns to the show to talk about his brand-new book, A Fistful of Drawings (Fantagraphics Underground). We go into the project’s history, Joe’s exploration of the Italian-American experience, and how it’s reflected in Spaghetti Western cinema of Sergio Leone & his peers. We also talk about how Joe overcame his anxiety about writing to bring the book’s narrative together, how Buffalo Bill and Old West culture infected Italy, his visit to the street set of The Godfather as a kid in Staten Island, the book of his musician drawings he hopes to make, keeping up with new westerns, the actors and figures he didn’t have room for in A Fistful of Drawings (but maybe we’ll see in For A Few Drawings More!), a survey of his drawing heroes and more recent inspirations, and more! Give it a listen (and check out my 2017 episode with Joe)! And go buy A Fistful of Drawings!

“I look at Picasso’s late drawings, and it’s the abandon, the freedom; the older I get, that’s the thing I crave the most.”

“There’s a logical extension from the Western to the Gangster film.”

Enjoy the conversation! Then check out the archives for more great episodes!

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About our Guest

Joe Ciardiello was born and raised on Staten Island, NY, just a ferry ride to Manhattan where he attended the High School of Art & Design and Parsons School of Design. A freelance illustrator since 1974, Ciardiello has worked for most major magazines, newspapers, and book publishers, including Entertainment Weekly, The Nation, The New Yorker, The NY Times Book Review, and Rolling Stone. His drawings have been exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the country. Among his awards is the prestigious Hamilton King Award from the Society of Illustrators in 2016. Joe lives in Hunterdon County, NJ. His new book is A Fistful of Drawings.

Credits: This episode’s music is Fella by Hal Mayforth, used with permission from the artist. The conversation was recorded at Joe’s studio on a pair of Blue enCORE 200 Microphones feeding into a Zoom H5 digital recorder. I recorded the intro and outro on a Heil PR-40 Dynamic Studio Recording Microphone feeding into a Cloudlifter CL-1 and a Mackie Onyx Blackjack 2×2 USB Recording Interface. All processing and editing done in Adobe Audition CC. Photo of Joe at Society of Illustrators by me. It’s on my Instagram. Bio photo of Joe by Deborah Feingold. It’s on her website.