Inspired by the Godzilla movies he watched as a child, Columbia based artist Sean McGuinness has spent the last twenty years turning his fascination with Japanese kaiju into art and photo-based web comics.
Originally a Japanese protest against nuclear war, McGuinness extends the message, using Godzilla and other cinematic monsters as visual metaphors for the ways that modern society contributes to its own destruction.
Sean McGuinness: Strange Beast will be on view in the FCM Waters Gallery from April 24 through August 4, 2023. This exhibition is presented by the Florence County Museum and sponsored by the Florence Regional Arts Alliance.
Top image: Rooftops of Charleston, Digital media collage, 2012
Attack on Fort Sumter
Digital media collage
2016
Union troops at Fort Sumter come under attack from a giant monster. But Godzilla doesn’t have laser breath, and why is he in Charleston? Harper’s Weekly is on top of this secessionist mystery.
Main Street
Digital media collage
2016
A Columbia postcard takes us back in time to see North Main Street as it was just as King Kong and Godzilla engage in a spirited discussion through fisticuffs.
Ruin of Man
Digital media collage
2015
Eternal. Undying. Immortal. Kingdoms rise and fall under the eyes of the sage saurian. But sometimes empires don’t need his help in their quest for self-destruction.
Sea Monsters
Digital media collage
2011
Clutching desperately to their fragile vessel, fishermen tremble under the shadow of Ebirah, horror of the deep. Godzilla will need more garlic butter and cheddar biscuits.
Tripping Blue Sky
Digital media collage
2012
Baby Godzilla trips over Blue Sky’s tribute to his firefighter father, giving it its jaunty angle. American capitalism would remove the Busted Plug in 2023 in favor of land development. What was built in three years was removed in a day.
