Pete Fowler (born 1969 in
Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
) is a
Welsh artist best known for his artwork for the Welsh band
Super Furry Animals
Super Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band formed in Cardiff in 1993. For the duration of their professional career, the band consisted of Gruff Rhys (lead vocals, guitar), Huw Bunford (lead guitar, vocals), Guto Pryce (bass guitar), Cian Ciar ...
and his Monsterism toys and goods.
He is a freelance illustrator and "monster maker" inspired by animals, music, folklore, myths, psychedelia and super nature. He has also worked on a number of other projects in the
UK and
Japan, such as television advertisements (
Kia Picanto
The Kia Picanto is a city car that has been produced by the South Korean car manufacturer, Kia, since 2003. Other names of the car include Kia Morning ( ko, 기아 모닝, translit=Gia Moning) in South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan (first two generat ...
), as well as having art exhibitions in the UK and abroad.
Monsterism
The majority of Fowler's art is made in a postmodern cartoon style and often revolves around a central narrative and features a recurring set of characters. The "monsters" Fowler creates all reside on "Monsterism Island". Fowler invents extensive back-stories for his characters; each has its own specific traits and levels of "monsterism". Fowler is most known for his
designer toys of his characters, which he himself manufactures with his own company.
A CD called ''The Sounds of Monsterism Island'' was released in 2005 by
Heavenly Records
Heavenly Recordings is a London-based independent record label founded by Jeff Barrett in 1990. Heavenly released the first albums from Saint Etienne, Beth Orton and Doves, and early singles by Manic Street Preachers. Current Heavenly artists ...
. According to the press release, "The record is a compilation album that works as a soundtrack to the world of Monsterism. The album features psychedelic music from the '60s through to today, much of it unearthed and put on CD for the first time." In 2006, Fowler created a set of comics about Monsterism Island which have been featured in ''
Vice Magazine
''Vice'' (stylized in all caps) is a Canadian-American magazine focused on lifestyle, arts, culture, and news/politics. Founded in 1994 in Montreal as an alternative punk magazine, the founders later launched the youth media company Vice Media, ...
''. The second soundtrack to Monsterism Island, ''A Psychedelic Guide to Monsterism Island'', was released in 2009 and features mostly new compositions by a host of contemporary musicians.
Notable events
Fowler is one half of the deckshoegaze/
cosmic disco
In music, the terms Afro/cosmic disco, “Looking over to the blogosphere, the largest hipster tremors came from the rediscovery of the Italian ‘Cosmic Disco’ sound (a mid-tempo stew of balearic disco pioneered by Beppe Loda and Daniele Balde ...
outfit Seahawks who have released extensively on vinyl, CD and download since 2010 and have remixed a variety of bands as well as regularly
DJing
A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile ...
, with Fowler commonly playing the genres of 70's
smooth rock
Soft rock is a form of rock music that originated in the late 1960s in Southern California and the United Kingdom which smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and pop rock, relying on simple, melodic songs with big, lush productions. S ...
, discoid and balearic debris.
References
External links
Pete Fowler's official websitePete Fowler flickrSeahawks
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fowler, Pete
1969 births
Living people
Welsh illustrators
Artists from Cardiff
Album-cover and concert-poster artists