Filippo Fontana illustrates a satirical take on Italian pop culture

Filippo Fontana has a fascination with the wealthy. Luckily, rather than illustrating luxury in a way that makes you envious, Filippo pokes fun at the nouveau riche, highlighting silly instances where his characters certainly have more money than sense.

Where his previous series Magnum did this quite directly by using imaginative figures, his latest work, Void, uses popular culture to highlight instances of wealth, concentrating on the famous faces of Italy – where the illustrator is from.

Shown across five posters released by Gram publishing, Fillipo illustrates recognisable figures from social media and the press to sports and children’s toys, referencing across the past 20 years. “The poster series aims to portray, in an ironic and satirical way, that the different Italian channels of information and entertainment are related by the same characteristics,” the illustrator tell It’s Nice That. These include: “the ostentation of wealth, materialism, ignorance, vulgarity, luxury, sex and the objectification of women”.

Using an illustration style reminiscent of Kyle Platts and Simon Landrein, each of Filippo’s posters are hilarious in their familiarity. Whether it be the subtle use of drawing logos of social channels to illustrations of eager gamers, irritated hipsters, cross legged football managers and wealthy figures with babes attached to their arms, there is something everyone can recognise and laugh along with. “The aim of the project is to question the viewer on whether and how the establishment – together with some notable characters like Italian ex-prime minister Berlusconi, the owner of several television channels, a publishing house and A.C Milan – may have shaped the Italian media world and, therefore, Italian pop culture,” explains the illustrator.

The title of the project, Void, also represents Filippo’s feeling on the subject chosen “to contradict what the information world would ideally be made for: create culturally valuable content, which in this case is absent,” he explains. “As a result, these posters are ‘full’, but ‘void’ culturally of content.”