I don’t believe in unicorns

Ferdinand B Dick creates a new nostalgic iconography by using banal references from popular visual motifs found in childhood cartoons. He however deviates from the original reference by adding an element of emotional distraught. The ultra-pop cartoon bears and ponies characters overwhelmed by emotions, literally balancing on their own tears, like crutches. The unicorn that lost its magic horn, the scared bear and the overwhelmed bear, they all reflect an unease with their self and surroundings and all convey emotional states that are not associated with happy cartoons. This is a happy yet sad fantasy world we live in.

Ferdi uses the theme of water or fluids in his characters almost looks like they evolved from water. In this instance the water is used to communicate tears of distress and depression. The tears are shaped as reflective bubbles in a mirror finish to play around with the viewer’s surrounding, bringing the observer into the art, and reminding them of their emotions that they may be hiding from everyone around them.

The plastic pop-iconography gets repackaged as “high-art” in the guise of polished bronze. Moving away from the mass-produced merchandise of popular culture these new figures are meticulously crafted and hand casted from highly valued materials.