The Literary Classic Moby Dick Comes to Life at the Séneca Space

From this Saturday, literature, illustration, and art enthusiasts have an unmissable appointment at the Séneca Space in Alicante. The municipal centre hosts the exhibition 'Ahab and the White Whale. Manuel Marsol' featuring original drawings, sketches, the artist's notebook, and a video of the creation of this work by the only Spanish winner of the Bologna Children's Book Fair International Illustration Award, celebrating ten years since the publication of his reinterpretation of Moby Dick.

The exhibition will be open at the Séneca Space until June 8th, coinciding with the celebration of World Oceans Day. The Councillor for Culture, Antonio Peral, attended alongside Manuel Marsol at Séneca Space and highlighted that "it is a privilege to have this exhibition for all audiences, coming directly from the National Museum of Natural Sciences, which fosters interest in the sea, literature, and everything surrounding it."

"I wanted to convey emotions related to my childhood memories of the sea, darkness, the unknown, the fantastic, and that feeling one gets when reading something they like but find impossible to express in words. I refer to emotions related to Moby Dick that remained after reading the novel," Marsol explained.

The exhibition is designed for all audiences, curated by We Art Exhibitions, and organised by the Department of Culture with the collaboration of the Alicante Provincial Council.

Manuel Marsol reinterprets the classic Moby Dick by Herman Melville in this illustrated album that explores the world of obsessions with humour, in a game of misunderstandings and clues between text and illustration. Ahab eagerly searches for the whale, unaware that it is always right in front of him. A metaphor for how obsessions can sometimes lead to blindness.

The project is designed so that both adults and children can interact through the work. The aim is to foster a love for the sea, its flora and fauna, and raise awareness about its care and conservation; cultivate interest in the world of whales; educate in art, foster creativity, and develop curiosity, and promote knowledge of Melville's work, a classic of universal literature.

The exhibition features 28 original drawings, 31 sketches and style tests, 19 giclée prints, an artist's notebook, and two editions of the illustrated album Ahab and the White Whale. Additionally, it is accompanied by a video of the digital process the artist undertakes on the originals.

In this way, it gathers the original illustrations, final artworks, and the creative process that Marsol undertook to create the album Ahab and the White Whale (Edelvives, 2014 - Fulgencio Pimentel, 2024) a decade ago.