James Rizzi

1997

James Rizzi developed his naive drawings, often inspired by the urban New York landscape, into a impressive number of commercial projects across all formats, from a Sigg bottle to a VW New Beetle and even a Boeing for the Lufthansa airline. Celebrating optimism, festivity and the joys of life, the artist made a name for himself in the art world with his 3D work, producing collage landscapes that featured depth effects. For Montreux Jazz he restricted himself to two dimensions and imagined a big orchestra of anthropomorphic cats – one of his favourite subjects – playing among the stars, confetti and vibrant colours. Rizzi was picked to design the poster by François Carrard, then chair of the MJF Foundation, who had discovered the artist in a New York gallery.