Eight artists were asked to draw a monster that embodies their deepest or most irrational fear — a creature that belongs not to the monsters of history but to their private horrors. Monsters serve a purpose in every age. They confront us with qualities in the world, and in ourselves, that we find difficult to face. And without artists to create them — from Gorgon to Godzilla — there would be no monsters at all.
MISAKI KAWAI: I don’t know, is he a nice guy? Giving me a nice haircut?
DAVID JIEN: I fear a brooding evil set on abducting humanity; we will be vulnerable and defenseless to a deception stronger than anyone realizes.
ELEANOR DAVIS: Everyone thinks this monster is you. But you’re trapped inside it. When you try to call out to your loved ones they can’t hear you. When they think they’re holding you they’re only holding the monster. All you can do is watch while the monster lives your life.
SAM WEBER: Both my parents have had cancer. The possibility of being betrayed by my own genetics, secretly, gradually, is terrifying.
MARTHA COLBURN: My deepest fear is of violence. I dream of a world free of it.
SHOBOSHOBO: Fear is something our minds create. Here I become my own monster. My own fears emerge and devour me.
In the past I felt like an outsider and had no self-confidence as an artist. I was afraid that everybody watching me saw an ugly chicken.
