BECCA'S BUGS...: or Once Upon A Time @ A Shop Called Gomi...

We had this young woman come in looking for a job, who had just moved to Austin from NYC. We hired her, she's was a very good employee, but alas all good things must end. The reason she came to Austin in the first place...ended abruptly & she returned to New York. But while she worked for us she had the most curious habit of receiving small packages in the mail. fairly consistantly, they would arrive, she would get very excited, & then it would be back to work as usual. Little did we know what lurked in those tiny packages...well. NOW WE KNOW!!!



THIS MONTH IN THE NEW TOKION...
http://www.tokion.com/

Here's Her Pictures & Mission Statement
http://www.hitchcocksatterlee.com/monsters.html

I use the idea of monstrosity as a different way to approach dialectic ways of thinking. Instead of reducing elements into a polarized opposition, I attempt to incorporate both sides of conflict. By drawing these discordant elements into close proximity with each other, relationships are forced between things which otherwise could be seen as absolutely oppositional. These relationships are the creation of something new, something that is neither inside nor outside of the dialectic; I engage with both sides of an argument simultaneously without synthesizing them into a third. I call this monstrosity and not amalgamation deliberately. Monsters are scary, things to avoid. Similarly, this state of being in constantly shifting and unresolved conflict is not comfortable. I aim to address this uneasy feeling by highlighting it and forcing the matter. Perhaps through prolonged exposure comes comfort.

There are three methodologies I use to explore the monstrous: the narrative, the formal, and networks. Narrative lends itself to the monstrous through character development and its temporal aspects. I can create a conqueror that never wins and the underdog that doesn’t lose. These characters who are not acting in total accordance with their characteristics allow for relationships to form which maintain long enough to pull in many directions without a clear resolution. Using form is effective in a different way and is more visceral. Within the frequent reaction of disgust or fear of monsters there is also an intrigue of the exotic. I balance the disgusting with the beautiful and the alien with the familiar in order to instill in the audience a feeling of simultaneous interest and aversion. Finally, I use diagrammatic language to illustrate networks of relationships; these diagrams shift the focus from things which are compared to the qualities of their associations.

-Rebecca Satterlee