Wondrous and Mischievous Misfits Populate Rhea Mack’s Bubblegum Daydreams

On candy-colored paper, Rhea Mack draws a world in which all misfits are welcome. The Massachusetts-based artist lovingly renders curious characters with three heads, flowers growing from their palms, or a penchant for plump, strawberry hats.

Mack has a soft spot for these strange oddballs who develop organically, often springing from her Sunday morning sessions seemingly on their own accord. “I usually start drawing, and they just kind of develop over a few hours. I sometimes have a certain feeling or pose in mind, but mostly I am just making it up as I go,” she says.

a figure with a strawberry hat rests on a cat-human hybrid

This intuitive, accommodating attitude influences much of her process, including the decision to draw on pink paper simply “because it made sense,” she says. Mack chooses other materials similarly. “The colored pencil pinks I use in my drawings are very buttery and just feel nice to draw with,” she adds.

As if emerging from a favorite fairytale—creating a children’s book is on Mack’s mind—the drawings twist common plants and animals like dogs and daisies into surreal fantasies. Each is packed with small moments of intrigue and playful patterns like stripes and dots.

In one work, for example, a full human skeleton and dozens of single eyes float from a figure’s gaze, while a pink pup leaps overhead. Another features a quintet bound by a rainbow dress, their bulbous, beige coifs fused together like the clouds above.

Mack’s solo exhibition Massachusetts Dreaming opens next week at Kyst Gallery in Dragor, Denmark, and is on view through May 8. Find prints in her shop, and follow her work on Instagram. (via WePresent)

a five headed figure with two sets of legs wears a striped garment
two twin figures stand under a rainbow and wear striped skirts with the gemini signs on their shirt
a three-headed figure in a striped suit sits atop a turtle with a cat in its lap
two surreal figures stand in a largely pink scene with flowers growing from their palms
a figure in a striped garment standing in front of a large-scale portrait of a white woman with short curly red hair
a figure with a flower head and stem with leaves coming from the top of its head. the figure wears a striped suit

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Wondrous and Mischievous Misfits Populate Rhea Mack’s Bubblegum Daydreams appeared first on Colossal.

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