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Cisko but with the Kappa
Born in 1987 in the province of Novara, Cisko is a versatile artist.
Before being an amazing juggler, he is an engaging person who can captivate anyone with his vibrant charisma. Personally, I consider him an example of how one should approach everyday life.
He possesses immeasurable positivity and knows how to radiate it to the highest degree.
Passionate about the art of juggling since adolescence, he spends every available moment practicing with diabolo, clubs, balls, rings, and any object he deems suitable for his performances.
Having grown up in the same small town, it was customary to see him cruising around on his unicycle, always ready to greet you with a big smile.
Giving a comprehensive definition of juggling is quite difficult. Some use it for meditation, applying the same principles as yoga. Some consider it a sport, like Albert Lucas (an icon of American juggling), while others make it their profession. Examples include street performers, circus artists, and entertainers. Some are drawn to juggling due to their affiliation with the hippie movement, which brought this form of entertainment back into the spotlight in the 1970s. Even the ancient Egyptian pharaohs knew of juggling, as evidenced by drawings of jugglers found in tombs.
Others practice juggling for therapeutic purposes, such as psychomotor recovery for traumatized individuals, anxiety and depression treatment, or for people with motor disabilities or hearing impairments, among others.
The love for this art leads "our" Cisko to numerous juggling events, including juggling Olympics and the Brianza Convention (one of the most famous). His optimistic spirit knows no bounds when it comes to energy, always on the move through travels and encounters.
Visit the page
Convention of Brianza
His artistic talent has led him to engage in various performances, from local shows to those in big cities (both national and international).
This has prompted him to build a vast repertoire, along with a unique dialectic that is attributed to his uniqueness.
What has driven me to dedicate an illustration to him, in addition to the great friendship I have for him, can be found in the traits of his personality.
A combination of brilliance and authenticity that perfectly answers the question:
Is he born with it or does he make it?
Let me explain further. When faced with an individual who exudes so much emotional intensity and lacks inhibition, it becomes difficult to distinguish whether it is genuine or an attention-seeking behavior.
In the case of Cisko, in my opinion, just five minutes in his company are enough to understand the beauty and uniqueness that his soul possesses and how much he is willing to give to others.
His noble gift is something so precious that it has deeply touched me, to the extent that I felt compelled to pay tribute to him through an introspective representation.
In April 2017, I was a part of the Permanent Committee of the Corsa della Torta (Cake Race), serving as the Vice-President of the Porta Compietra Neighborhood.
This event is the most important tradition in the city of Oleggio (NO), dating back to 1900 and held on Easter Day.
Being both from Oleggio, we grew up with the "myth" of this festival and with the desire to be a part of it at least once in our lives.
The opportunity arose in the spring of 2017 when the Committee approved the juggling show as entertainment before the competition among athletes from various neighborhoods and cantons of the town itself.
For those who are not familiar with the Corsa della Torta (Cake Race), I invite you to read its history by clicking on the button.
The memory of that day is still vivid in my mind, and the joy of seeing the audience applaud Cisko, the jugglers, and their performance was a "small" victory for the grown-up Boris, after dreaming about it since childhood.
Illustration “Gran Maestro”
Let's start from the beginning, namely, from the definition I coined when I nicknamed Cisko. With the "title" of Grand Master, I want to highlight (without constant rhetoric) the most powerful gift that resides in him, which is the ability to interpret life with a touch of artistry that brings a sense of lightness and good humor to those around him. Just like a true master of this art, Francesco embodies every virtue through his performances, his gags, and whatever else springs from his "mad" mind.
Regarding the figurative representation, I wanted to guide the observer's eye into his passions. The first of all is his love for the image of the pelican. I don't know the origin of this love, but I can testify to the myriad of objects (plush toys, clothes, gadgets) that he possesses.
Next, or rather, side by side, comes juggling, depicted with elements from childlike drawings, as I imagine it inside his mind. These elements are arranged around him not by chance; they symbolize the mutual attachment, like an inseparable symbiosis between this art and the exuberant juggler. This is emphasized in the lower part of the artwork, where the heartbeat transforms into acrobats performing circus acts.
Finally, the sun, symbolizing the positivity and warmth of this "world," is contained within a cathode-ray tube television, a symbol that harks back to the 90s, to all those films that I used to watch in my childhood on a similar television, where Walt Disney fairy tales were popular, and the ending was often a life lesson.
Logo Creation
After many discussions over the years about how to capture and represent his artistic-circus persona in an image, the official logo was finally created at the beginning of summer 2020.
Cisko sketched a reference idea on a sheet of paper, depicting a friendly "avatar" juggling a club with a balancing act. I really liked the concept and started developing this figure.
The other prominent element is the logo text: "Cisko ma con la Kappa" (Cisko but with a Kappa).
It emphasizes the importance of how the artist's name is spelled (Cisko and not Cisco).
The final design retains the basic lines of the initial sketch, with a cartoon style that captures the unique characteristics of dear Cisko's personality. The warm colors of the juggling club contrast with the soft blue background, creating harmony in the composition without any visual divisions of primary and secondary impact. This logo is intended for use in a social context, where the logo is already part of the page (given by the page name), so it was intentionally not included to avoid unnecessary repetition.
The next step was to create "gadgets & co.," starting with stickers.
The choice to include the logo and the social platforms used by the artist was made in a circular shape, reminiscent of the spinning elements on stage during his performances. For the background, we aimed to develop a gradient based on the official logo, maintaining the blue color and using a chromatic scale of the same color. This allowed us to emphasize it for each circle that radiated outward from the center, with a white outline separating them.