Demented, disconcerting, possessed and more than a little juvenile; Martyn Cross's world is all of these things. Culled from a kitsch panoply of seemingly innocent family photographs, vintage advertising and retro knitwear catalogues, Cross subverts and twists his images by adding streams of vomit, disjointed limbs or satanic symbolism, turning cute children into sinister monsters and loving families into incestuous creeps. Drawn to already sickly-coloured vintage saccharine shots, Bristol-based Cross seems to have an endless supply of found imagery to alter and scar, and whilst the results are admittedly a little gimmicky, the sheer volume of perversions and uncomfortable scenarios he generates suggest a darkly twisted mind at work, and sometimes you cant help laughing at the results.
Does he need our help, or deserve our grudging respect?
No comments:
Post a Comment