I’ve been a fan of Allyson Mellberg Taylor’s drawings for several years now, but only recently realized that she creates illustrative ceramics, too! Her slightly grotesque portraits have made their way onto vintage dinner plates where the subjects have pimples, two heads, and talk in leaves.
I can’t help but be reminded of the graphic novel Black Hole by Charles Burns when I look at Allyson’s work. If you aren’t familiar with that story, it’s about teenagers in the 1970’s who contract STDs and develop outlandish things such as tails and weird growths. Like these plates, the comic is slightly unnerving but undeniably alluring.
