UNREALITY

IRENE BIDELLO & JANELLE BARONE

 
 
 

Italian illustrator Irene Bidello first studied fashion design at Istituto Marangoni Milano, where she graduated in 2019. That same year, she began working as a designer supporting Roberto Cavalli Kids style office, before taking on a graphic design role at the consulting agency Human Centric Group.  This professional experience inspired her to pursue illustration, and she later attended a specialisation course in order to transfer her skillset. Now, she is a student on the Mimaster Illustration course in Milan, while working full-time as an illustrator.

Nel baratro

 
 

Just a Kiss

 

Her work flirts with realism; neat lines and polished textures conspire to form images that seem airbrushed to perfection, but their formal deception is revealed in the fantastical content; a girl swings from the pinstripes of a man’s suite in one piece, while in another, a panda stretches out within a glass bell jar. Through her illustrations, Irene seeks to tell stories about the feelings and thoughts she experiences as a young woman, viewing her work as key to understanding both her inner and external world.

 

Life Back

 

Through Cluster, her work has found new audiences through her participation in the Makers Alternative Digital Fair 2021. Right now, she is working on Thirsty Thrift, an ongoing project about sustainable vintage fashion.

 
 

Roadside Picnic

 

Janelle Barone is a professional illustrator and animator based in Melbourne, Australia. In her prolific career she’s collaborated with international brands such as Apple, Disney, Wired, The Big Issue, Rolling Stone,  Seize the Awkward, Public Transport Victoria and The Washington Post. Primarily inspired by comic book art, Japanese ukiyo-e and cinematography, Janelle also draws influence from a range of non-visual mediums such as music and novels.

 

Climate Anxiety

 

Similarly, her work has a sleek, realist edge. The smooth surfaces of her images lean into the uncanny, infused with rich, cinematic colours and precise linework. “I aim to create atmosphere and mystery within my work while also telling stories and celebrating the everyday,” she told Cluster. Through striking colour and film-noir shadows, her work captures heightened moments that invites the viewer to deconstruct the scene at hand. Janelle was part of Cluster’s 2021 Artist in residency programme.

 

Gingerbread

 

Aria

 

Through expressive colours and silken surfaces both Irene and Janelle treat subjects both fantastical and mundane with an unfalteringly equal hand; one that’s simultaneously dreamlike but steeped in the real.

 
 
 

Work by both Irene Bidello & Janelle Barone can be viewed on the Cluster Illustration platform
and purchased through our Cluster Illustration Online Shop.

Thank you for reading,
Stephanie Gavan & Cluster Team.