the storytelling art manifesto

From graphic novel to immersive exhibition: the expansion of Storytelling Art

The painted graphic novel: a singular invention
As early as the 1990s, Ferrero felt that his pictorial language could not be limited to isolated canvases. He needed to invent a form that would enable him to tell long-term stories, with recurring characters and narrative continuity. Thus was born the concept of the painted graphic novel: a narrative written not on paper but on canvas. Each painting is a monumental board, where the viewer meets up with the heroes as their adventures unfold.n. More than a style, it's a universal language that reconciles image and narrative, in a world dominated by instantaneity.

"I wanted to create a novel that you read with your eyes and experience with your imagination." - Marc Ferrero

When painting becomes a universe


Most artists conceive of each painting as an autonomous work. Marc Ferrero, on the other hand, has always thought of his paintings as interconnected chapters. This vision gave rise to the painted graphic novel, a novel concept that paved the way for a natural expansion into cinema and immersive exhibitions. Today, Storytelling Art is asserting itself as a transmedia movement, where painting becomes the starting point for multiple experiences.

The Empire of Acceleration: a contemporary fresco

The flagship work of this project is L'Empire de l'Accélération, a pictorial cycle launched in 2015 and still in development.

This story features two worlds:

  • Superior Cities, dominated by speed, competition and elitism,
  • the Disqualified World, where the excluded invent creative forms of resistance.

Three main characters embody this conflict:

  • Lisa Laventura, "queen of metamorphosis", double figure capable of moving from one world to another,
  • Duke Spencer Percival, strategist and resistance fighter,
  • Don Cello Cordoba, artist and charismatic leader.

Each painting in the cycle(Lisa Laventura in red dress, Duke in resistance, Don Cello at the piano, etc.) constitutes a narrative fragment, a dramatic scene that invites the viewer to put the puzzle back together.

At the crossroads of storytelling, painting and modern visual languages

"My dream is that the spectator can physically enter the story, move between the characters, and become a protagonist himself." - Marc Ferrero

A transmedia work

What makes L'Empire de l'Accélération unique is its ability to exist on multiple media.

As an immersive exhibition, it is being designed as an experience in which each visitor chooses his or her hero and narrative path.

On canvas, it's a monumental fresco, with dozens of works already completed.

As a painted graphic novel, it becomes a serial narrative in which the characters develop.

In the audiovisual field, an option contract has been signed with the producer of Sin City, for a series or film adaptation.

Immersive exhibitions: the future of the narrative museumA response to the contemporary world

Immersive exhibitions are enjoying worldwide success, attracting new audiences eager for sensory experiences. Often, however, they are limited to projecting existing works onto giant screens.

Storytelling art, on the other hand, goes further: from the outset, it proposes a narrative universe designed to be experienced.

👉 In the immersive exhibition L'Empire de l'Accélération, visitors choose their character - Lisa, Duke or Don Cello - and experience a different adventure according to their choice. Each room will be a dramatic scene: infiltration, resistance, metamorphosis, climax, then a return to the painter's studio as a symbolic conclusion.

This model prefigures the museums of the future: places where you don't just observe works of art, but live a total narrative experience.

Storytelling art as a cultural platform

With this development, Storytelling Art goes beyond the pictorial. It becomes a cultural platform capable of dialoguing with :

  • painting and art history,
  • comics and graphic novels,
  • cinema and audiovisual,
  • design and luxury,
  • immersive and interactive exhibits.

A seductive expansion

This transmedia character naturally attracts collectors and institutions.

Cultural institutions see it as a mediation tool capable of attracting a wider audience, especially the younger generation.

Private collectors appreciate the rich narrative that gives each canvas a lasting memorial and symbolic value.

Conclusion: from chapter to universe


Storytelling art was born of a simple desire: to tell stories through painting. But it has become a universal method that transforms every canvas into a chapter, every chapter into a novel, every novel into an immersive universe.
With L'Empire de l'Accélération, Marc Ferrero paves the way for a new form of total art, where you can read, see and experience a work.
This expansion of the painted graphic novel into the immersive exhibition confirms that Storytelling Art is not just a contemporary movement: it is one of the major cultural horizons of the XXIᵉ century.
" Storytelling Art is not an end in itself, but a beginning. It's an invitation to create worlds where art, narrative and the viewer meet." - Marc Ferrero

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