Isa Koelzer

Cosmic horror is a genre that I am very fond of, and one that isn’t appreciated nearly as much as it should be. I would not call my creatures horrifying though. To me they are somewhere between cosmic horror and cosmic wonder. In creating my work, I mulled over the question of “what if,” and tried to answer it. My creatures, partially inspired by Simon Stålenhag, are not malicious, but someone who has never seen one before would likely be paralyzed by fear in the presence of one of them. However, life seems to go on as normal despite the threat they pose. To the people that live in the same world as these beasts, they are just a part of life. Less like some chthonic horror, and more like mothra, or even just a leucistic bison. Something to be feared and respected, but not a being that harbors any ill will. I want viewers to ask their own “what ifs.” Think about what gives your reality substance, and how much can be changed before it’s no longer yours? Is your world really any less terrifying than the one on the paper?