Undigested Kernel
The Vacation
Pictures of Scott Harrison
Scott Harrison
Web: http://www.laluzdejesuspress.com
"Scott Harrison is the hyperactive love
child of Aubrey Beardsley and Basil Wolverton.
Imagine, if you can... Definitely not for the faint of heart."
Thomas Woodruff
Scott Harrison is an internationally
recognized tattoo artist, famous for his nightmarish cartoon art, twisted and
shocking tattoo design and unique personal style. He has tattooed all over the
States as well as Europe and Japan. His clients have included such diverse
celebrities as Master P, Kiki Smith and Tony Fitzpatrick.
Harrison’s paintings have been exhibited
in galleries and museums around North America and Europe. It is hard to
describe the vision that presents itself when you first see his work,
Harrison’s art is a mixture of the nightmare and the cartoon presented with a
dash of the dark and extreme. Harrison revels in the underbelly of life
including explicit sexuality and violence, yet always with a certain
playfulness and humour.
There are many reoccurring motifs and
characters which are bizarre and bewildering. For example one of whom seems to
be his favourite character is an egg-headed half “human” with a single length
of hair hanging from the back of his head. His lower body seems to have rat
like legs and chicken like feet.
Various cartoons explore this creature’s
life and the unique problems he experiences.
In one image you have him attempting to
watch television as he runs from an unknown encroaching foe in the form of a
shadow. In another he sits terrified in a rowboat with a female skeleton with a
pony tail holding an axe.
The images are surreal, monstrous, erotic
and playful; there are clowns, creatures, animals, dogs, faceless people, sex
and violence.
It is as though the Id has erupted into
daytime cartoons and been recorded in a black and white tattoo style ! His work
seems to embody a preoccupation with the unconscious drives most of us tend to
ignore or at least downplayt. Sex, violence, consumerism, thought and emotion,
they are all encoded into his images.
His work is incredibly detailed and makes
excellent use of the power of black and white.
It is a high quality hardcover, 8" x
6" landscape in size and 96 pages in length. It features a forward by Don
Ed Hardy and Introduction by David Quale.
This review will appear in Volume 2 No.3
(2009) of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.
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