Galen Schuhmacher

My practice is rooted in nostalgia and an obsession with the uncanny. Taking reference from childhood toys and manipulating each sculpture into a monstrous rendition of its former self, my work frames itself in memory, drawing on one’s past experience with similar toys to ask the question are these creatures cute or creepy? In answering, the works have built upon the base of a walkable bird puppet and developed layers of visual and textural viscera. Each sculpture is uniquely visceral, ranging from balances an imbalances between smooth skin like surfaces, exaggerated bodily features and fur. These sculptures use these tactile features alongside saturated colours to disarm their appearances, evoking a passiveness associated with play.

Drawing from a pool of visual reference from early 2000s horror media, developing chimeras that share a few too many organs with the audience and a sense of humanness that aims to both disturb and intrigue.