I am an illustrator inspired by pulp science fiction and the horror B-movies of the past. My work uses a painterly tactility to depict a moment or scene that is suggestive of a dark future or a forgotten past outside the scope of reality. It combines daydreaming with sound fundamentals to explore imagined worlds.
For this project, which explores elements of creature design and a mix of Irish mythology, I discovered the myth of the "Fomorians". When the first men and women came to Ireland they were driven off by the Fomorians, an ancient race of monstrous beings older than the fairy folk or the little people, that dwelled beneath the sea and under the earth. Their name derives from the Gaelic "Fo", meaning beneath or lower, and "mor" meaning great or big.
The Fomorians represented nature's chaotic forces as well as darkness and death. This manifested in their appearance; they came in many shapes and sizes, all hideously deformed. They ruled Ireland until the arrival of the Tuatha Dé Danann, the bringers of wisdom, growth and civilisation.
The two races became locked in a long war until the Tuatha prevailed and drove the Fomorians back into the earth. Their victory allowed the world of man to flourish and for them to inherit the land.
This work was made with the intention of using objects found in the natural world and repurposing them to create idols of these Fomorians to symbolise nature's chaotic tendencies, like an earthquake, a flood or a pandemic. These things remind us that we do not own or control this world; we are only temporary inhabitants that must enter into a symbiotic relationship with nature or face the wrath of a latter day emergence of these sleeping giants.
This work was made with the intention of using found objects in the natural world and repurposing them to create these forgotten God's of Irish mythology, that once symbolized nature's unpredictable chaotic forces. These idols are to remind us that we must enter into a symbiotic relationship with nature or face the wrath of these forces.
