Who is it?
Some thought it was I and I thank you for the compliment but no, it is not I! The words and ideas I contribute but the genius behind the images is Rosario Calandra, a real live Sicilian – Sicily (the ball) is the island that the rest of Italy (the boot) is kicking up the Mediterranean.
Rosario now lives in the beautiful west of Ireland and designs fabulous toys (link below). A few years ago Rosario did brilliant drawings for a wonderful book produced by my brother, Peter and based around a children’s poem written by my dad. It’s called, Hairy Lemon and Jimmy the Jug … check it out but first here’s Rosario in his own words.
I was born in ’73 in Agrigento, a city in the extreme south of Sicily. I moved with my brothers to Milano in ’89 where I finished my second level humanistic studies -should have studied at art school but silliness dictated otherwise..-. After the army I did not find again the concentration necessary to study at university and went on to work in bars and restaurants to make a living and enjoy myself. I lived for a while in suburban Paris then decided to move on to a english speaking country, as I liked The Chieftains and The Scullions I picked Ireland. I did not have a word of english so I started again from the bottom and went to work washing up at the Esplanade Hotel in Bray. After a year, and with a working knowledge of the tongue, I decided to move west with a friend of mine. We stopped in Dingle and I worked in restaurants for a couple of years. I met my actual girlfriend and we moved in together. I started working then making luxury leather goods with Holden’s here in Dingle. Finally in 2008 I had enough of doing the same job for so long and I opened my toy workshop, Ventrytoy. In 2009 my little girl, Fia, was born. And well… Dezy rang one day…
Obviously one cannot condense one’s life in few lines without leaving out most of it, but that’s it.
If you wanna know more just ask…
Rosario
To view his CARTOONS click here.
