Video exhibition, 5 min loop, 2005 (Exhibited at Kings Artist Run Initiative and Box2,
Melbourne, LaTrobe Regional Gallery)
When they look at me I can tell they know I'm not quite right.
I, Monster features myself as a number of different monster incarnations, from a werewolf, giant,
zombie, to plain ugly. The video is in stills and the backgrounds are graphically affected. Titles are
interspersed throughout the piece poetically making comment on the foibles of being monstrous and
the failure of communication between friends and lovers. The titles are a poetic personal narrative
about how I am monstrous, how I don’t fit in, what is wrong with me.
The visuals are inspired by the countless B-grade horror/sci fi directors of the 1950s as well as the
comic artists Charles Burns and Joe Coleman, but ultimately this is not a horror video, it is about the
horror we have in and about ourselves. The visuals are stills, but the picture is moving (through pans
and zooms). This creates a sense of the inner self – to create a snap shot of the ‘face’ of a person, but
also to delve deeper into their psyche through the revealing titles and through focusing on a moment.
The self-deprecating and cynically humorous style of the titles is similar to the autobiographical comic
“RelaxBaby” that I make.
Soundtrack by René Thomson. |
