Who doesn’t know the story of “Alice in Wonderland”? 

Everyone of us has at least read the book or whatched one of the numerous movies that came out. Carroll’s characters have dominated the dreams of every child or adult since the book was published in 1865. The world that he created still strikes our fantasies today, even after all of this time, and his work has inspired thousands of artists. 

Back in the days, now it’s been almost 3 years, a young version of me was affected as well by those wonderful characters. I was experimentig with ink and I wanted to test my abilities. I didn’t have a clue of what this couple of drawings would have set off in me.  

I remember one day, I was in highschool, and I suddenly stopped listening to the lesson I was at. I then started drawning a caterpillar on a small piece of paper. I remember the excitment and the flow of ideas that pervaded my mind. I didn’t do much else in those days if not drawing. I couldn’t think about anything else. 

Brucaliffo, 30x42 cm, ink and charcoal on paper 

This drawing rappresents the Caterpillar. This wonderful character has always inspired me wisdom, and I wanted to draw him as a long bearded sage. He watches the viewer with sleepy eyes, as he was saying that he doesn’t really care about who you are, he just wants to tell you a story, it’s up to you to listen or not. 

The story that he wants to tell you it’s rappresented inside the blow of white smoke that come out of his mouth. It is a story about madness (as we can see in the ambiguous smile of the Cheshire Cat) and magic (the White Rabbit coming out of the hat). In the upper left we can see the end of the Caterpillar’s tail, it rappresents the bowl of water of the hookah that he is smoking. Inside it there is a butterfly, rappreseting his imagination, smoked almost like a drug by the Caterpillar himself. 

Cappellaio Matto, 30x42 cm, ink and charcoal on paper 

This drawing rappresents the Mad Hatter, another one of the beautiful characters created by Carrol. This picture is more difficult to explain than the first one. If my explanation of it doesn’t make sense to you just know that it’s too personal for me to say everything it means openly. 

In the middle of this drawing we see the Hatter bathing in a giant cup of tea. He is smoking a pipe that rapresents the March Hare. The ashes of this pipe consists in the brain of the animal, as saying that the Hatter is intoxicated by the ideas of the Hare. The smoke is coming out the Hatter’s brain through the hat and the faces inside it rappresent mood swings and paranoia that affects him. The Hatter is feeding the tea that he is bathing into to his own cup, rappresenting a vicious circle in which he is fallen. The Hatter himself doesn’t realize what he is doing, but the viewer can, the only thing that the Hatter can see is the cup in front of him, which seems to be tender and sleepy, like a puppy. The viewer instead can notice how the faces that surround the Hatter, as well as the faces on his own cups, are all crazy or sad looking. Even the Cheshire Cat in the upper right watches this scene with a bit of pity for the Hatter.   

This two drawings came one after the other, in a very complicated and sad period of my life. Never the less I still think they are one of the best I’ve done until now. They mean a lot to me, they rappresent a promise to myself, a will to go on this beautiful road of creation no matter what.