Temptation of St. Anthony- Joos van Craesbeeck (1650)

Art installation at symposium

      Steve Wilson, illustrator and writer, will be presenting his “A-Z S.O.D.S” on 1st September at the performing monstrosity symposium:

  “He is not easy to describe. There is something wrong with his appearance; something displeasing, something downright detestable. I never saw a man I so disliked, and yet I scarce know why. He must be deformed somewhere; he gives a strong feeling of deformity, although I couldn’t specify the point. He’s an extraordinary-looking man, and yet I really can name nothing out of the way. No sir; I can make no hand of it; I can’t describe him. And it’s not want of memory; for I declare I can see him this moment.”        

              (Robert Louis Stevenson: The strange case of Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde)

Darkly we delight in the notion of the urban monster, that harbinger of social paranoia and devilish dreams. Born and reborn on the wings of the collective consciousness of the great artisans, we catch their form.

From Dante to Blake, surpassing culture and place, the monstrous incarnations are indelibly impressed. They speak of the unspeakable, fortify the untouchable and grow grotesquely until reality and the dream fade into an ominous grey space. Here, terror and taboo hand us helplessly to the devices of that “mysterious other”.

As a contemporary compendium of the darker elements of humanity and the socially absurd, “A-Z S.O.D.S” propagates its own brand of satirical exorcism. The caricatured effigies are caught between pen and paper and brought out into the light.

The blend of cruelty and comedy, re-enactment and realization, requests the reader to revel, rebel and to reform their own notions of idiosyncrasy and monstrosity.

A

... is for the Anarchist, Adam,

Who armed the East in search of Saddam,

And sold for himself, ten-dozen tin tanks,

While strutting the street in his star-spangled pants.

BIG

La rambla barcelona

Leading up to the 1^st September we will share some monstrous images with you. Feel free to leave your comments.