Neo Kudan (2016)
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I drew a fictitious monster that I fused with the concept of UMA (translator’s note: UMA (cryptids). The existence of this urban legend in Japan (called Kudan) can be traced mostly to eyewitnesses who supposedly encountered it during emergency situations such as disasters or during wartimes. Its features are of a humanoid beast, with a human face and a cow’s body, or vice-versa. What sets the UMA apart from other urban legends which lack credibility, is that there are still testimonial records about it in the business reports of the Japan self-defense force and security firms even after the 20th century. In the final days of the Edo period, it was known as a yokai that brought about evil omens, and was thought of as a deformed creature born from cattle. Because these sightings always occurred in the midst of panic, the possibility of hallucination cannot be denied, but recordings taken at the time of the Great East Japan earthquake clearly showed objects escaping from tsunami at abnormal speed. Not all of these cases can be explained by simple hallucinations. My personal opinion is that the existence of these occurrences are visions born from the collective unconscious. If we follow the theory that humans were born out of beings which transcend humanity, it could be that at one point long ago, there was a point of contact between a monster-like being and a Japanese person which resulted in this by-product. On the one hand, it is thought that the Kudan taxidermy owned by Kihara Hirokatsu is in fact a malformed cow used as a spectacle. On the other hand, in these modern times where genetic experiments have made it possible to generate human clones, it is easy to imagine that numerous animals bearing genetic birth defects were sacrificed, some of which could have been UMAs. When man reaches into God’s domain, he might end up casting a strong shadow in the process. And this shadow alarms people as a new enigma.
Mediums: graphite on paper
Mac, photoshop
Print size: 21.0cm x 29.7cm (A4)
29.7cm x 42.0cm (A3)
