Lorenzo Mattotti (Brescia, 1954) lives and works in Paris, where he moved in 1998.
In the late 1970s he made his debut as a comic book author, drawing black and white strips, inspired by the expressionism of José Muñoz and Carlos Sampavo. After attending the Faculty of Architecture in Venice he moved to Bologna where in 1983 he founded Valvoline, together with the Bolognese designers Daniele Brolli, Giorgio Carpinteri, Igort, Marcello Jori and Jerry Kramsky. The group, which aims, from an interdisciplinary and pop-flavored perspective, to bring comics into dialogue with the languages of art, music, fashion, and advertising, directs the supplement of the magazine "Alter Alter".
In Alter Alter, Mattotti published “Il signor Spartaco” in installments in 1982, his first color work, and "Fuochi" in 1984, an emblematic work that would revolutionize the language of comics and highlight some of the defining elements of the author's style: from a sensual, evocative, and enveloping use of color to the marked expressiveness of the line.
Mattotti subsequently published numerous volumes for adults and children,many of which have been translated into several languages, including prestigious international collaborations with newspapers and magazines such as The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Cosmopolitan, Le Monde, NouvelObservateur, DasMagazin, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Corriere della Sera, Internazionale e la Repubblica.
Over the years he has designed numerous book covers for the publishing houses Einaudi, Garzanti, Guanda, Mondadori, Penguin, Rizzoli, Sellerio and Seuil, and contributes with his vision to the illustrated re-edition of the great classics of classical literature, such as “Pinocchio” (Albin Michel, 1990) and “Gulliver's Travels” (Einaudi, 2025), and contemporary ones such as “The New York Trilogy” by Paul Auster, interpreting his novel “Ghosts” (Einaudi, 2025).
In parallel with his editorial collaborations, he lends his graphic style to the illustration of posters for important cultural events and institutions, such as the Cannes Film Festival (2000), the Venice Film Festival (from 2018 to 2024), the theatre seasons in Brescia and Udine (2024-2025) or for the comics festivals in which he participates. In 2025, on the occasion of the Paris Paraolympic Games, the "Se dépasser" (Unlimited in Italian) series will be exhibited in the main French railway stations.
In the film field, in 1995 he illustrated an adaptation of “Barbablù”, for the French animated series “Il était une fois...”. In 2004 he created the illustrations for “Eros”, creating the link between the three episodes of the film, directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, Steven Soderbergh and WongKar-wai. Mattotti also participated in the collective work "Per(s) du noir" (2008), an animated film made by six artists. In 2019, his animated film “The Famous Invasion of the Bears in Sicily”, based on the illustrated story of the same name by Dino Buzzati, was presented at the Cannes Film Festival in the Un certainregard section. The following year, the feature film was nominated for the 45th César Awards ceremony in the Best Animated Feature category.