Retrospective: Dario Argento - Commemorative Print

Printed on the occasion of Retrospective: Dario Argento at the Wex July 6 - Aug 17

Measuring 16x20 inches, this 16 pt. heavy cardstock print is is a limited edition of 110, hand-signed and numbered by the artist. J.T. Dockery chose the the paper and red on yellow color combination to pay homage to the tradition of the giallo book in the Italian publishing industry. The yellow references the trademark background color for the pulp paperback genre book covers from which the genre in cinema was influenced and by which the film genre also takes its name.  Dockery's portrait of Dario Argento splashes a bloody, "deep red" across the yellow to conjure the spirit, history, and style of Argento as master of the giallo form. The artist's name is printed in black at bottom left with signature and numbering by hand for each individual print in black ink at bottom right.

J.T. Dockery is a cartoonist whose works include In Tongues Illustrated (2008), Spud Crazy (2011, with Nick Tosches), DESPAIR, volumes 1–3 (2013-15), and Juanita and the Frog Prince (2020, with Ed McClanahan).  His adaptations of Stephen Crane poems from The Black Riders and Other Lines in volume 1 of DESPAIR were recognized in the annual "Notable Comics" list by series editor Bill Kartalopoulos in The Best American Comics 2014.  Bob Levin wrote in The Comics Journal, reviewing DESPAIR vol. 2, "Dockery’s roads map the South beyond Gothic into the teratogenic. They extend the polite dreams of the Surrealists into preternatural nightmare. You laugh here – and immediately consider critical self-examination." Furthermore, Dockery, born in 1976, saw Argento's Suspiria on VHS in the 1980s, and he's never quite been the same since.