Growing Up With Monsters; My Times at Universal Studios, in Rhymes! 2009

Curator: I just love this chaotic explosion! "Growing Up With Monsters; My Times at Universal Studios, in Rhymes!" painted by Jack Davis in 2009, its like all my favorite childhood terrors got together and threw a party I wasn't invited to, which actually adds to the appeal, don't you think? Editor: It's a lot. The sheer number of figures in different balconies creates a strong sense of visual layers, although it risks becoming overwhelming. But tell me, what’s your take on the mediums Davis employs in creating this piece? I’m curious as to how the mixed media was consumed commercially, since the original work, its labor, its source of materials would’ve impacted the consumer world of 2009. Curator: Oh, it’s delicious mixed media; I think mainly watercolors here. It’s all a big, silly, slightly unhinged love letter to old monster movies, it is rendered so lovingly, in detail with the ink line and bright watercolours over top to exaggerate his gestures that I see his personal history of these forms made legible with humour! I mean look at that Frankenstein slouching there! He embodies his awkwardness like all our monsters embody their own strangenesses; this illustration is not a means to capital alone, but deeply imbued with feeling. Editor: Perhaps you're right about the feeling, but I would still look for deeper understanding by considering Jack Davis’ materials, and labour behind producing the illustration as commodity, rather than fixating on the individual characters. I suggest analyzing the economic forces behind his chosen medium, what he used when it was sold in stores, the cultural industry surrounding Universal Studio monsters and how it was consumed in 2009 to offer a better lens of what these types of characters mean in relation to cultural artifacts. Curator: Oh, come on, can’t we just appreciate the pure, unadulterated joy of Boris Karloff in watercolor? It isn’t just about economics all the time. But I guess it helps me see all those lovely watercolor washes with fresher eyes. Editor: It’s worth seeing how something so visually riotous can tell a larger story of artistic labor, cultural material production, and more.