An exhibition documenting Monstrous Territory
Those hidden places and the signs within them indicating the passing, residence, presence or summoning of otherwise Hidden Beasts, Monsters, Demons and other creatures.
A Hidden Cartography features 7 Artists working in North Shields. Curated by Paul Thompson hosted at The Exchange, North Shields for the duration of February and then made permanent in the form of a Book to be launched on the 15th of February.
The cover of Invisible Beasts, A Hidden Cartography was based on an image from Ellie Tarratt’s contribution.
Events
Facebook Event Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/544434719250406/
Thursday 1st. February : Exhibition Opening
Music from 8pm by North Shields Soul Exchange DJ Alex (@alexiconman) will be playing an off-kilter selection of weird folk, out-there psych rock and other spooky oddities.
Thursday 15th February : Book Launch
Comics and Drawing from Newcastle based Paper Jam Comics Collective: Come along and create a collaborative Zines/Comic on the subject of monsters which will be printed and available at the Exchange and Paperjam events in future. Join us also for horrific board games: Mysterium and Mansions of Madness.
The Artists
Gary Bainbridge : Of The Boggletwix and The Moskett
- Web: garybainbridge.co.uk
- Twitter: @gbcomics
Monsters are surely creatures who bring chaos, fear and disaster into the world. We run from them in despair, invest in trinkets to ward off their influence, some brave souls set out to fight them and banish them. But some braver still may seek to summon theses creatures in a time of great need. Hopefully at not too great a cost.
Brittany Coxon : A Hole in the Sky?
- Web: britthub.co.uk
- Twitter: @brittcoxon
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/BrittsLittlePaper
Have you ever noticed a hole in the night sky? An area void of all stars. Is it truly empty or perhaps only visible from the right angles? What kind of creature might inhabit or pass through? How would one chart this gap without any point of reference? Is it a gap or a doorway?
Michael Cunliffe : An American Guidebook
- Website: www.dreamsofego.com
- Twitter: @dreamsofego
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/dreamsofego
America is land of opportunity, where even monsters can make you money. Native beliefs, urban myths and mysterious disappearances soon find their way into haunted house tours, tourist traps and paranormal guidebooks as harmless entertainment for the masses. Dig deeper though, and you may uncover true horrors lurking beneath the denial and amusement.
Anthony Downie : Baphomet’s Lair
- Website: www.adillustration.co.uk
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/anthonysdayoff
Anthony Downie is an illustrator based in North Shields. He can be found most days staring directly into the sun at the end of Howard Street. This gives him the insights he needs to envisage almighty Baphomet’s lair.
Michael Jeffries : Where the Housing Estates End
Monstrosity has been connected with mixture since mixture can be understood as transgression of boundaries; monsters threaten to destabilise what had been seen as a clear and normally uncrossable lines. What is monstrous is always defined in relation to what is human.
Oscillating Brow : Things In Little Squares
- Website: oscillatingbrow.blogspot.co.uk
Maps powerfully communicate a demystified physical world within neat gridlines. These works are an attempt to repurpose that visual language to invoke the opposite: mystical narrative places, dream-logic reconstitutions of the familiar into the uncanny. Also: the artist really likes chopping and gluing stuff.
Ellie Tarratt : The Drovers’ Road
- Website: www.pretendertothethrone.co.uk
The oldest drovers’ roads have long been thought to follow the spirit or faery paths, now generally dismissed by modern historians as myth. Interest in these drover’s roads reached a height during the 14th century when some alchemists fell for the lure of faery gold, leading to the creation of Magister masks, now more commonly referred to as Drovers’ masks.
Paul Thompson : Emily’s Brain
- Website: hollowearth.co.uk
- Twitter: @paulxthompson
Disappointingly for Emily, the only place monsters genuinely exist is in the human mind, so to build a monster we must first create a mind for it to inhabit. But what constitutes a mind and how to create it?