Michael Pybus

Tatjana Pieters, Ghent, Belgium, "Anything in life can happen, especially nothing...", 22 October - 10 December 2017.

Included in Takashi Murakami's Art Collection

YAC (youngartistsinconversation)
Interview by David McLeavy
Published August 2015

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"Themes of consumerism, collecting and obsession are prevalent throughout Michael Pybus' work. By using popular icons such as Pokemon, Pybus explores how contemporary we obsess over objects and our apparent need to accumulate 'things'.

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Your work seems to take great influence from popular cartoon and animated characters and I wonder if you could talk a little more about this and why you use these specific references.

They work on many levels for me. Cartoons hold a strong emotional attachment for many of us, we grow up with them and we often first learn to understand narrative through them. There's a real visual sophistication to how they operate on such limited parameters, but on a more complicated level cartoons are used as a way to build an emotional bond with their audience to encourage its viewers to purchase merchandise. I think it was Transformers in the 80's that were the first cartoon brand to really push this - the toys came first and then the animated series was developed after as a way to give the toys depth and life, making them more desirable. Then came along Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Care bears etc. ..."