Print Contemporary Practice

Seán Lally

People Who Aren’t Real

As it turns out, the overwhelming majority of people on this planet happen to find other people interesting. To make matters worse, the same majority also happen to find representations of other people interesting too, i,e., people who aren’t real. As someone who belongs to this majority, I create people who aren’t real, in a way that someone who also has an interest in cartoons might, and I take pleasure in it.

Using different stylistic approaches across various different methods, my work is both a study and a celebration of the cartoon character, specifically, the design behind any one of them. In exploring cartoons throughout history and up until the modern day, one can see how it is more often than not the design of the resident characters which helps give each of these distinct articles its own flavour. Some simple lines, a few shapes and some colour can describe so effectively a person, an icon who we may attribute a personality to, who we can project ourselves onto, fall deeply in love with, stick on a logo, etc. This is the beauty of the cartoon character, and at the heart of any cartoon character, good or bad, is its design. And if that’s too schmaltzy for you, take it up with whoever designed me, because I actually believe this stuff I’m saying.

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