Even Monsters Are Growing
Art zine, Roy Luo, 20 pgs, Instagram: @RoyLuoArt
A wee bit of “I’m OK. You’re OK” rhetoric can apparently work wonders if you’re a monster trying to find its way in this crazy, mixed-up world. Or completely unreality. Either/or. Even Monsters Are Growing addresses real issues for fake creatures. One could surmise self-doubt and emotional turmoil is rampant with these cute critters, as artist Roy Luo’s focus is on monsters that are gloomy and glum. It’s super sad. However, transposed with the sorrow is uplifting platitude that are a bit memeish in a fairly positive fashion. Short thoughts like “It’s natural to be scared,” are smushed together with monster doodles, giving this zine the feeling of a collection of graffiti or quick etchings on the wall of a high school cafeteria. It’s clean and simple. Luo does well not to overcomplicate things and the package is a brisk look-and-read that’ll take mere minutes, if not seconds, to get through. You could probably jump in anywhere, ogle a few monsters, absorb a bit of positivity and leave feeling better for the experience. Again, this is 101 stuff but it’s also delightful stuff. Affirmation of anything can be hard to come by these days, so if hopeful lil’ monsters can provide a boost of anything, why not put them to the task? They’re just oozing and wallowing otherwise.