Roddy McDowall: a solo show by Daniel Cowlam

About

Daniel Cowlam is an artist based at Two Queens in Leicester, working across painting and sculpture. Cowlam is often inspired to create objects drawn from the pre-existing imagery of books, television and cinema. For this solo exhibition, he takes reference from Planet of the Apes. 

Roddy McDowall was an actor most famed for his roles in The Planet of the Apes franchise, playing multiple roles across films and television, but always acting behind a prosthetic mask. 

The films and TV shows were reliant on pioneering use of prosthetic rubber masks and make up in allowing actors to play animal characters. In recent remakes of the films this transformation has given way to computer rendered effects. 

The Planet of the Apes films touch on themes of humanity’s creative distinctiveness, satirising our need to self determine through language, technology, dogma, violence and race. Within their narrative the future is wrestled away from man only to be reclaimed in the closing moments with the realisation that we had control all along. Albeit if that means our own repeating self destruction.

For this exhibition, Daniel Cowlam has created a series of posters for McDowall and multiple silicone rubber macaque heads and limbs. 
On some posters the letters appear jumbled, distorting the actor’s name. Similarly, the monkey heads move erratically, mouthing shapes without language, communicating indistinguishably.