I Can Bite You

Museum gift shops are usually worth a look, and while I wasn't overly impressed with the Tate Modern's (yes they had plenty of art books, but the rest was ho-hum), I did make a complete find: greeting cards by a London artist, Rachel Ortas. The creature (above) in most of her cards is Ai Ai. I found her web site, and I was hoping that on it there would be t-shirts for sale, but no such luck. I did email her to ask about other merchandise, and she was kind enough to send me a story book about Ai Ai.
Since I feel that I truly need a shirt with Ai Ai saying, "I Can Bite You" and one with the little girl (above) saying, "You Are The Monster," I may resort to creating my own.

Her cards also remind me of Brendan Monroe's Sour work, which I saw when it was part of a group show at GR2 in Los Angeles in 2004. This series includes paintings, sculptures, books/zines (I have two) and vinyl dolls. "The actual SOUR comes from the idea of a fruit or a pod coming alive and creating havoc and trouble," describes Monroe. Ai Ai seems to be creating havoc and trouble galore. Maybe Ai Ai can join the Orange Sour, "the most controversial and wild of the species," on some of its adventures, which are documented at Sour Sighting.

All card designs by Rachel Ortas