Midnight Paintings, Inspired by Dr Seuss’ Posthumous Collection

Dr Seuss kept his shadow to himself, leaving the bizarre to the darkest hours. When sleep couldn’t find its way to him, his whimsical beings would turn even weirder than usual. His Midnight Paintings were made in secret, alone and at night, exploring sexuality, drug use and his fear of death. He worried it would impact his career as a children’s illustrator and author of The Cat in the Hat – so they were only released after his death in 1991 in The Secret Art of Dr. Seuss.

This Cold editorial takes this darker collection as inspiration. Through eclectic textures, vibrant designs, and zany looks, this editorial represents a vivid replica of Midnight Paintings. Latex prosthetics were hung on bodies, ping pong balls were hidden under blue tights, and fish heads were snatched from the National Theatre. It reaches the extremities of our subconscious to tickle our psychedelic fantasies.

The creepiest creatures come out at night, leaving us nowhere to hide from the discomfort of looking at our own uncanniness. But this editorial hangs the uncanny in our face. Pouring out the weird, the strange, the unwanted at night, we enter a psychotic world of distorted shapes and vivid colours. These nightmarish creatures might have been amusing in Dr Seuss’s subconscious, even though they come from the terrifying places of our sleepless minds.

Among fish heads, latex rose hands, and disjointed blue legs, you fall down Alice’s rabbit hole. These inhuman beings are disturbingly bewitching. Legs the length of a child’s nightstand, icy nipples like the tip of an iceberg, and feet the width of a gondola. The long-lashed eyes look after these melancholic creatures, seemingly hanging in this liminal space. You stare too much, and you are trapped in their otherworldly gaze, with liquid nails reaching out to caress our foreheads.

Writer: Francesca Nicolodi