Swansea MAD are very fortunate to have collaborated with so many incredible artists over the last few years. We are excited to have a third artist now displaying work in our High Street Office. The artist is Speculoos, who is a Swansea-based artist, using text-based art to examine and highlight the absurdity of modern life. Speculoos said that having not graduated from art school, nor having picked up a paintbrush before the pandemic, they don’t really know what they’re doing but do it anyway. They made a comparison that they feel “a bit like a honey badger stuck on a skateboard. Mostly terrified and occasionally annoyed, yet sometimes accidentally spectacular.”

Speculoos’ absurd approach to art is unique, transfixing, and brightens up the Swansea MAD office. The exhibition is titled “What We Do In The Shallows” and is heavily inspired by the artist’s fascination with graffiti. Graffiti that is “not necessarily the incredible and accomplished spray paints but immediate and personal”. When talking about this fascination they said they are influenced by “random scribbles on bridges like “Bobbi luvs Sandy 4eva”. The need to express oneself to the world so honestly and instantly is in my view the most powerful and beautiful artform in the world.”

Speculoos continues that they’ve “also always been intrigued by social media. And if you’re a member of my generation (#MillennialsForTheWinYo) then you are overly exposed to “inspirational quotes” in the form of a bold text in front of abstract landscapes from people you went to school with or your kind-of-racist aunt.” The exhibition ‘What We Do in the Shallows’ “serves as a commentary on modern life by combining these two foundations of accessible expression with observations of the absurd and mundane.”

The exhibition will be at Swansea MAD until the new year and we look forward to working alongside Speculoos to promote their art.

To check out more of their art, please visit: https://www.instagram.com/speculoosart/