Caffè Arti e Mestieri

 Strange stuff you find sometimes in thrift shops. There is one such shop pretty close to where I live, and I sometimes wander there to see if they have something of interest (mainly 90s Sperling&Kupfer novels, which I sort of collect). Lo and behold, I find nothing other than a book in Japanese! How did it end up in the heartland of Italy? Pretty interesting story, I must say. 

You see, in what's pretty much the city right next to the one where I live, Reggio Emilia, there is a rather famous restaurant and coffee shop, Caffè Arti e Mestieri. Or, rather, I should say 'there was', as the establishment has been under new management for more than a decade now. I know nothing about this new management, but under the old one Caffè Arti e Mestieri used to be pretty much a fixture of city life, renowned both for its cuisine, and for the many art exhibits that took place in it. 

One thing many do not know (and neither did I) is that the coffeeshop also had an offshoot in... Tokyo. Unfortunately I couldn't find any information about this dining place - I assume that, as often happens in Tokyo, it didn't last more than a few years - but one such product of this parentage was the book I am reviewing today, aptly titled Tasty Italian Cuisine of Caffé Arti e Mestieri. 

Unlike what I usually review, this is not a dōjinshi, and it shows: hardcover, full color (date is 2005), it's really more of a coffee table sort of book. It does contain recipes, but the bulk of the book consists of pretty pictures of tasty- looking italian food with the restaurant's verdant locale as a backdrop. It's pretty much food porn: money shots of polenta, pizza, pasta and various regional cuisine displayed on lush table settings; interspersed by portraits of Alberto and Enzo, Caffè's creators and long-time manager and chef, busy preparing such dishes; and a few simple shots of the emilian countryside.

 A very idealized portrait of Italy (I can tell you, I live there, and it's one of the most polluted places in Europe), but still I had to pick up the item: not only it was cheap, but it reminded me a bit of those 80s and 90s cookbooks that my grandma and mother used to keep handy for when family notes failed them - which didn't happen often, but sometimes it did. Add to it that I've always been a sucker for cool coffee table books, and this rather curious item is now in my collection. Cool stuff. 

Jessie by John Smith

 So yeah, when I bought this 2016 dōjinshi by John Smith (a circle name, in case you didn't figure that out) I actually wasn't aware of them being sort of a big shot - from their web site and twitter I discover now they also do commercial work, cover art for novels in particular. 

Jessie is a small-sized, full color collection of illustrations ranging from pinups in abstract landscapes, to recreations of realistic scenes that I assume were either photomanipulated, traced or copied from pictures of real life locales. Little matter as, much like Inio Asano (one of my favourite mangaka), John Smith's tract injects new atmosphere in these protorealistic locales -- and, let's face it, with 3d modeling and such it's hardly a practice to scoff at. 

What matters is John Smith's visual style, which I happen to really dig: their wiry, flowery female figures almost seem at times almost created with traditional media (which I don't think is the case?), and reminded me a bit of another dōjin artist I have covered before. Just the right mix of materiality and abstraction. One could argue that the subject matter is the same old bishoujo but, at this point, who cares? I'd argue that, in the context of dōjin art, little girls are the new still life. Just a convenient subject the artist injects their own style into. As I mentioned before, some locales seem to recreate rewal life locales - probably American? the dōjinshi is, as customary, scant with info save for a few contacts. 

All in all a nice little sample of an artist that has seemingly moved to greater things. You can find much more art on their Instagram as well. 

Stay tuned, as the next review will be a double look at some very interesting ephemera...