ARCSPACE – A barren desert landscape has been decorated with a series of sculptures of children on the brink of death. It’s the SL artist Bryn Oh’s version of the author Edward Gorey’s book «The Gashlycrumb Tinies». Written like the rhymes in an ABC, the book can be read by children, but perhaps they shouldn’t. It sets off like this:

«A is for Amy who fell down the stairs.
B is for Basil assaulted by bears.
C is for Clara who wasted away.
D is for Desmond thrown out of a sleigh.»

”They go from A to Z, and there are no great outcomes for any of them,” said Oh. She has recreated Gorey’s black and white illustrations with her steampunk style sculptures.

”I think I discovered Gorey in a used book store. Like most things, I just stumble upon them, and get obsessed. What fascinated me was his dark humour, and his fantastic method for drawing called black crosshatch. He’s one of my favourites for crosshatch drawing,” said Oh, herself a RL artist. Some of her own landscape paintings decorate the walls where the tinies are placed in interiors.

”A lot of this was mainly done for building practice. I wanted to do something I liked, but didn’t have to think too much about. Just build, and transfer from a 2D image,” said Oh.

But she admits she has done more than merely recreating Gorey. ”I don’t like to do exact replicas. I like to put in something of myself; that’s what keeps it fun. And I prefer to make my own ideas,” said Oh, who also has a large production based on her own imagination. Some of it you can find in a secret area if you search Arcspace well enough.

Her biggest departure from Gorey can be seen in the letters K and R. The original illustration of «K is for Kate who was struck with an axe» shows a girl lying dead in the woods with an axe in her back. And «R is for Rhoda consumed by a fire» is of a girl on fire. Not so in Oh’s sculptures.

”Gorey was very consistent in drawing the moment before the catastrophy happened. But with these two, we see them after the accident, and it seems out of character. The threat of violence causes more response than the actual act. It causes suspence, and lets the reader use her imagination. Therefore I’ve moved Kate and Rhoda back to the moment before the act happens,” said Oh.

In her version, we see Kate playing under a tree where a lumberjack has left an axe in the trunk above her head. And Rhoda is carrying a candlelight close to the curtains.

”Just the placement of the axe causes anxiety. You don’t need a gruesome picture. In a way, it’s more touching when you see them alive. There is still some hope or something,” said Oh.

All the children and the landscape is surrounded by a railroad track with a handcar. ”Gorey has a story about two people having an adventure on one, just travelling and seeing strange things, called «The Willowdale Handcar»,” said Oh. ”So that ties it to him.”