Monsters Cannot Be Announced [atom basham]

NOTE FROM THE CURATOR

If we trace a thing back to its original, how far back do we choose to go?

There’s a word for you: TRACE.

How peculiar. How common.

Both a thing and an action. Both detected/found and gone/passed.
A small quantity of what is beneath or what is beyond.
In marking atop found and thrifted paintings, Atom expands meaning in a multitude of
directions. He is adding to the definition of what was, compounding it, pressing it to speak
more loudly. Too, he is tracing the elements back to an originality, a before. Perhaps a peak at
the lines beneath. His use of pop and nerd culture images alongside original monsters evokes a
sense of play amidst a forced reinterpretation of the world around us.

---

“Monsters cannot be announced. One cannot say: ‘Here are our monsters,’ without
immediately turning the monsters into pets.” -Jacques Derrida