The Surrealist's Bestiary: A Collection of Evolutionary Paradoxes

Sep 19

About the Collection

Nine original colored pencil drawings exploring the intersection of natural history, evolution, and Surrealist philosophy. Each piece reimagines creatures from the Surrealist's Bestiary—a collection of animals that held special significance in Surrealist art and thought—through the lens of evolutionary paradox.

The Concept

Inspired by naturalist Charles Waterton and incorporating creatures from Mattias Forshage's Surrealist's Bestiary, these drawings challenge conventional evolutionary theory. While nature selects traits that aid survival—a dog's expressive eyelashes, a donkey's cooling ears, a lion's protective mane—my creatures are deliberate amalgamations whose forms would hinder rather than help their development.

This body of work explores the Surrealist view of evolution as regression rather than progress, a perspective shared by both Waterton and Charles Darwin in their more philosophical moments. Each drawing questions whether our adaptations truly serve us, or whether we've become prisoners of our own evolutionary "improvements."

The Story Behind the Art

These creatures inhabit my short story Fantasy Beast of Evolution, which imagines the first meeting between Charles Waterton, Charles Darwin, and John Edmonstone. Set in Waterton's world of "Animalistic Fantasy," the story explores how Surrealist thought influenced natural science and chronicles the profound intellectual relationship between Waterton and Darwin.

Read the Fantasy Beast of Evolution story

Rediscovering Waterton

While Waterton is celebrated as a conservationist and naturalist, few recognize him as an artist and early practitioner of what would later be called Rogue Taxidermy—a pop-surrealist art form using taxidermy materials in unconventional ways. This collection invites viewers to see Waterton through a Surrealist lens, where scientific rigor meets creative distortion, offering alternative pathways to understanding evolution and nature itself.

Available Works

Original Drawings – £200 each
Museum-Quality Giclee Prints – £55