ABAQ: Exemplary crimes
The “Exemplary Crimes” project involved the reading of the homonymous book by Max Aub, the selection of some chapters, and the illustration of the cover and interiors. The format was freely chosen from the paperback editions, and the elements of the layout were considered and respected in the execution of the illustrations. The work of the students involved the realization of sketches, proofs of layout, research of the right style and stylistic consistency between the illustrations. The book is a surrealist work, so the main challenge was to keep away from the iconography of thecrim book and instead manage to make the spirit of the absurd that animates the whole book.
“With the frankness of the fools, drunks and children Aub tells why it is worth killing your neighbor, the dentist, the one who does not give it, the one who gives it to us, the neighbor on the tram who has the breath of a rhinoceros, the one who does not listen to us, The one who doesn’t lose a syllable and then holds it against us. According to Aub it is not Allah the great dispenser of destinies, but the intrigue hatched by Chance. Killing is not illicit, it is a simple action suggested by this mischievous entity. And certain suggestions are heard, indeed! A cynical book? No, hilarious. You read and do not stop laughing. Even though you just got a 300-euro fine and lost 15 points on your driver’s license, Aub makes you laugh, because you wish that policeman’s jugular had stabbed you with a pin sticking out of her mother-in-law’s hat.”
Andrea Molesini