It's Fun To Do Bad Things Book

The book is finally finished (and photographed!). Each page is an illustrated interpetation of an absurd tweet from the public domain. The books are accordion style, and screenprinted by hand as part of my thesis. Enjoy. 

“It’s Fun to Do Bad Things”

Caged away, deep inside of us lives a beast – a desire to be bad. Shackled by society’s systems of checks and balances, we are for the most part kept in order, conditioned to live pleasant lives. Yet, each and every one of us has – at one point or another – has relished in the pleasure of breaking the rules. Our parents tell us not to do things; we do them anyways. Our bosses delegate commands; we ignore them. The government creates laws to govern us; we break them all the time. It is part of our instincts, our human nature, to go against the grain, to be defiant. As insanely passionate and selfish creatures, we constantly push the boundaries of what is acceptable, yearning for that thrill like a sick addiction. We cannot help ourselves, we love to be devious, to skirt laws, and hurt those who have wronged us. This guilty desire to be bad is the inspiration for “It’s Fun to Do Bad Things.”

 The series of illustrations and prints focuses on four little girls – a deviant, Goth child and her three friends – who find merriment in bad and inappropriate activities. Through the use of young children, the series mocks the current trend in young adults who are consumed with “edginess” associated with satanic symbolism, cult logic and occultism.  Each illustration and print is my own interpretation of an absurd tweet from different, publicly available Twitter accounts. The fantastical nature of the illustrations is a satirical critique of how fanatical our society is about publicizing each and every moment of daily life, whether it needs to enter the public domain or not. Although this series is a tongue-in-cheek critique intended to be a comedic reading of our lack of filters; it is also pokes fun at the idealized notion of childhood innocence, and through the juxtaposition of the little girls and their evil acts, our absurd desire to be bad.