CARY LOREN
— The Monster Masher trading cards are an unbound art catalog produced for the Destroy All Monsters archive exhibition Hungry for Death, first shown at the Printed Matter gallery in New York over the summer of 2009. Each card is blended from a variety of sources that contain works or references to the works on display.
The cards can function as a single photo, images that can form a story, a commentary and index from the exhibition or as a chronological diary/journal entry. The card set is also the archive exhibition, and (playing off of Marcel Duchamp’s Boîte-en-valise) can be rearranged as a portable gallery or ‘traveling museum’.
The deck was inspired by classic horror trading cards from late 1950s and early 60s––Mars Attacks, The Addams Family, Outer Limits, Creature Features, Horror Monsters, The Munsters, and The Twilight Zone––many old-time trading cards became subjects themselves. The deck also surveys my personal journey with Destroy All Monsters and touches on intersections of family history, popular culture, music adventures and my own art practice.
There were a total of 250 hand-numbered sets produced, each containing 40 cards, double sided for a total of 80 images in each deck. They were printed on glossy UV coated card stock and measure 3×4”––a slightly larger format then the standard trading card. The card sets also contained buttons, a small monster toy and an 80 card checklist on two postcards with identification titles and a one line description.
Click on these cards to read some commentary, and glean a glimpse into the Destroy All Monsters way of life.
—
Cary Loren is a filmmaker, musician, photographer and founding member of the Destroy All Monsters collective. He lives in Detroit and is the proprietor of The Book Beat, a visual arts bookstore.