Mondo welcomes back beloved Australian artist duo, We Buy Your Kids, for the next gallery show, “Harsh Majical.” The show will run from August 29th through September 15th. The opening reception will be Friday, August 29th from 7 –10pm at the Mondo Gallery, located at 4115 Guadalupe St. in Austin, TX.
Sonny Day and Biddy Maroney, the faces behind Sydney-based We Buy Your Kids, are known for their colorful, off-beat design style. They combine hand-made and digital techniques to create their work, often experimenting with color, shape and texture. Their influences include a shared love of comic books, skateboarding, music and film.
The show’s title, “Harsh Majical,” came from a direct English translation of a Chinese description of WBYK’s work. “We felt it might sum up the final outcome, but more importantly describes the fun we’ve had working on this collection.” It will include prints from films previously tackled by Mondo artists, such as Alien and The Fly, but will also introduce some new titles such as White Men Can’t Jump and Thrashin'.
“When we started to think about movies for the show, Alien was one of the first that we chose,” said WBYK. “We both love it, everyone loves it, it’s an all time classic.” They had originally gone for a more static, art deco approach to the print, focusing on beautiful designs of the helmet and monster frozen in space. “It didn’t quite seem to illustrate the horror of the film, or the tension. Instead we let it rip with a bolder image of the terror inside man.”
The show will also feature a softer take on sci-fi horror classic, The Fly. “When I first watched the film, I was surprised at how touching and sad it was. This tenderness was the first thing we wanted to convey in the poster. We zoomed right in so we could focus on those human emotions that run right through the movie, which are often overlooked in favour of the iconic glowing sci-fi, goopy-fleshed imagery,” said Day.
In addition to creating prints for Mondo’s online store, this will be the second gallery show featuring art from the talented duo. Their first, entitled “Tina’s Mom’s Boyfriend” (which opened in December of 2012), was a huge success and “Harsh Majical” is expected to be equally bizarre and awesome.
“We are over the moon to have another chance to show our work in their amazing space,” said the pair. “We cannot wait to get back to Austin.”
