SANTENA – 5 April 2023 – The Pro Loco has unveiled the poster of the Santena 2023 Asparagus Festival, scheduled for 12 to 21 May 2023. A graphic created by Daniele Ienuso and Giada Gunetti, starting from the posters of the 1940s and 1950s, found in the dusty archive of the Santenese Pro Loco.
The graphics are a four-handed job. Work of Daniel Ienusosantenese, 29 years old, illustrator and by Jade Gunetti, Chiesese, 28 years old, graphic designer. Two artists working in the Studio Spazio Punto in Chieri. Daniel Ienuso, informs: «The 2023 graphics of the 2023 Asparagus Festival is a result obtained by combining two skills. Mine and Giada’s. We started from the material unearthed in the Santenese Pro Loco archive. We have seen the first posters of the Asparagus Festival, those from the 1940s and 1950s. On the occasion of the ninetieth anniversary of the festival that celebrates the asparagus of Santena, the king of the spring table, in creating the graphics we first of all wanted to celebrate a return to origins».
The central element of the new graphics is the scattered Bela, portrayed – borrowing the language of cinema – little more than a bust and little less than a medium shot. Bela sparsera who, of course, is in a classic postural attitude. With her arms she supports two bunches of asparagus, with large asparagus shoots. Daniele Ienuso continues: «Naturally for the 2023 graphics we used the colors of the vintage posters from which we started. These are the colors that all the posters of the time had. Giada, after a bit of testing, she managed to nail the right color combinations. The Bela sparsera has a nice light-colored hat, with a fine fluttering red cockade, Gianduja-style. Her hair is brown. Her lipstick is a nice red. Two pearls as earrings. The only tear at the vintage posters came with the color of the eyes: they were black, but we opted for light eyes. We wanted to give a light point to the gentle shapes of Bela sparsera’s face. In the background of the logo, the parish church, with dark colors, to obtain a chromatic contrast that would best enhance the Bela Sparsera. The logo of the Santena 2023 asparagus festival is delimited by a round space, the zero borrowed from the 90th edition of the Santena festival».
All the graphics of the Asparagus Festival were created digitally. First the painting of the legendary Bela sparsera, made with a graphic tablet. Then with graphics programs – Illustrator and Photoshop – we continued to create the poster. To arrive at the definitive drawing, the two artists prepared various tests. In agreement with the managers of the Pro Loco, after discarding a good number of drafts, they slowly moved towards the definitive form. Once we arrived at the definitive logo, the work continued until we obtained a series of coordinated images to be used for an important edition of the Santena Asparagus Festival, the ninetieth. Daniel and Jade they close like this: «What can I say? We are better with drawings than with words. We are happy and proud of the work done. We hope you like it. We gave it all and even a little more…».