Simon Boses’ (aka Mud Monkey) wondrously-imaginative clay sculptures are the result of a childhood fired by exposure to art from many different cultures, and a staple diet of watching cartoons.

Sometimes the most simply drawn cartoon characters can evoke deep feelings of empathy in us, and Boses has been able to harness the same phenomena in his works with great effect. His works have a whimsical and delightful quality to them, and yet, they are rich with hidden and subtle symbolism, that reveals itself upon repeat viewings.

I found the stylized lines and forms of cartoons echoed in the art of many cultures. African masks, Egyptian tablet figures, Coptic portraiture and Australian aboriginal bark paintings were among those that captured my imagination and inspired me to weave a thread of symbolism into my work. This is where my own mythology comes in.

A piece is successful when it reveals a familiar moment in what it is to be human. It can be something as small as the affection one feels toward their favorite toy or as complicated as an unrecognized injustice our society unintentionally supports. When the audience recognizes that moment as something from their own lives, possibly something they never took time to think about I consider it to be a success.

Boses is an alumnus of the Maryland Institute College of Art for ceramic, and lives and works in Seminole, Florida. He undertakes commissions, and you can buy his (very affordable) sculptures at his Etsy store.

Link to Mud Monkey.

(Thanks, Kevin Titzer!)

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