Another superb exhibition from MPIA – the UK debut of Mothmeister, Belgian taxidermy collectors and curiosity cabinet owners, who bring their anonymous masked creatures to Leeds in the form of a photography exhibition. Face your fears. React to selfie culture. And dress up for a Hallowe’en Party launch night…
The ever shape-shifting alter ego of two partners in crime, Mothmeister was born in 2012 in Belgium, home of surrealism. Before that time it lay dormant in its cocoon for many years, collecting stuff to feed its addiction for musty Victorian taxidermy, scruffy old costumes and other junk. And now it is moving to the UK, to Leeds, under the watchful eye of northern art-gatherers MPIA.
Grotesquely-masked humanoids cavort with quasi-lifelike animals in barren settings in Mothmeister photography, somewhere between circus sideshow performers and post-apocalyptic mutants. “Mothmeister is about the polarity between ugly, nightmarish creatures portrayed in an aesthetical and colourful way” state the duo. “The project started on Instagram: weird masked anonymous portraits as a reaction against the exhibitionist selfie-culture and the ‘big-brother-is-watching-you’ society.”
The Belgians are passionate taxidermy collectors, hence their lonesome characters most of the time being accompanied by mounted animals. Dead critters are reincarnated by Mothmeister dressing them up like the Victorian taxidermist Walter Potter did. Surreal inspiration comes from their own imaginations, dreams and nightmares. Taxidermy is usually kept inside museums and living rooms, but Mothmeister brings the animals back into nature, where they come back to life as post-mortem fairy-tale characters.
Mothmeister has now created ‘Wounderland – the post-mortem fairy tales’, the basis for this UK exhibition; a surreal fantasy world, some kind of even darker eerier Alice in Wonderland. Set in the habitat of lonely characters with (inner) scars & wounds, and working with artist Adele Morse and milliner Candice Angelini, Mothmeister’s ‘Wounderland’ acts as a reaction against dominant exhibitionism and beauty standards marketed by mass media.
A combination of masks, animals, and costumes piece together disparate grotesque parts to make something new – a kaleidoscopic explosion of photographic wonder.
#MPIA07 – Mothmeister: A Trip Through A Weird & Wonderful World
Launch: Thursday 29 October 2015, 6:00pm – dress fancy
Outlaws Yacht Club, New York Street, Leeds