MONSTRODAMUS

About

Monsters exist all over the world, woven into the fabric of our global culture. They inhabit the universe and the far reaches of the human imagination in a multitude of forms. The WDLM collective draws together documentation from its creative members to give an international perspective on monsters – both fun and fearsome.
For the WDLM artists, ‘monster’ is a mechanism to reveal a mix of contemporary issues and dilemmas combined with character design which is at the core of their practice. The artists play with the idea that while some monsters are inherently evil, others are indicators of an imbalance within the natural order of our environment, or signal discord within our social and cultural beliefs. From New Zealand comes an avatar for the human intervention in nature, and monsters by artists in Thailand and Australia challenge both identity and femininity. WDLM artists also communicate the idea of monsters appearing in our social and cultural conscience as guides for social attitudes and behaviour, such as the monsters of prejudice and fear revealed in comics and storytelling from Finland.
A multifarious selection of traditional and modern monster associations are integrated in the form of portraits, stories, battles, worlds and even monster news. Mythological and metaphorical monsters manifest within insignia and motifs; amulets from Bolivia have been crafted to ward off evil and to bring good, while bold Peruvian masks bear monstrous faces. From angels who connect humanity to the mythical underworld to fortunetellers predicting the future, this exhibition is a diverse and vibrant monster mix, including sculpture, automata, illustration, painting, print and fashion.

WDLM – is a global group of 27 talented character obsessed illustrators, graphic designers, sculptors and provocateurs from more than 20 countries spanning from South America to New Zealand, through Far East Asia, Finland and the Russian Federation. Thrown together for the 2014 Pictoplasma Academy, from a chaos of creation, they are continuing their impact on the world as an international collective.

Participating artists:
Baillairgé (Canada)
Luis Benzaquen AKA Guizo (Peru)
Garry Buckley (New Zealand)
Irene Feleo (Australia)
Thea Harksen (Germany)
Sernur Isik (Turkey)
Yasmin May Jaafar (Finland)
Gerome Jean (Belgium)
Adisak Jirasakkasem (Thailand)
Kukka Kiuru (Finland)
Conall Leite (Ireland)
Tanya Marriott (New Zealand)
Alvaro Martinez (Bolivia)
Michel Martins (Netherlands)
Christian Michel (Mexico)
Ikumi Nakaya (Japan)
Yumi Oh (South Korea)
Jasmine Parker (UK)
Adolf Rodriguez (Spain)
Karen Anna Solberg Sandholm AKA Angry Duck (Norway)
T-Wei (New Zealand)