Cult figurehead of vinyl figures, LP artwork and almost rendered paraplegic due to psychedelic obsession, it's some wonder the population of Welsh cartoonist Pete Fowler's Monsterism Island hasn't eclipsed that of Britain. Underdog status notwithstanding, if you've stumbled through the marsh lands of t'internet to arrive at Dots & Dashes there's little to no doubt whatsoever you've bumped into Fowler, or at least one of his seminal pieces at some point or other on your stroll down whichever path life leads you down. His pastel colour schemes immortalising winged horses peering out from beneath foppish fringes two thirds of Salford were attending to in the mid-80s whilst posing for Polaroids in front of the Lads Club, alongside omnipresent smokey-eyed skulls transport every sense to Fowler's fictitious island. But it's his work primarily as Super Furry Animals' in-house artist (per se) and vinyl figurine designer that's garnered him quite universally glowing critical acclaim. Having also worked on KIA car ads, his horned, cycloptic creatures are almost everywhere you care to turn in culturally relevant artistic circles, and Selfridges are currently displaying his visual take on Hot Chip's I Feel Better (above, photo courtesy of Chance Collective) so best add window dresser to his list of ubiquitously enviable capacities. Last seen bobbing buoyishly to his own DJ set at last summer's Big Chill, his encyclopedic box of psychedelia records is enough to entangle the most rigid of brain composures. For a vague preconception, check Squonjax' hallucinatory 80s-infused haze-pop at Pete Fowler's Soundcloud Page.
