Saturday 3 Sunday 11 November 2007

Preview Friday 2nd November 2007, 6-9pm

The Ai Ai arrive in Brighton. While the toyish candy-coloured Ai Ai might appear - to initial observers - to be red-cheeked, warm-pawed playthings, Rachel Ortas' creations from outer space are in fact extremely sharp in tooth and claw, can assume gargantuan proportions and, with childlike malevolence, wreak havoc in the classic monsterly tradition.

Rachel Ortas' dazzling screenprinted posters, books and cards show the Ai Ai clambering joyously up the houses of parliament, riding atop red buses, even clutching stars and planets. The Ai Ai impart messages in clear, though occasionally mispronounced English. As one caption reads: "DO NOT TOUCH A AI AI, BECAUSE I CAN BITE YOU" - you have been warned.

Visitors to the show have the chance to dress up as an Ai Ai, by donning an Ai Ai-shaped embroidered two-coloured sackcloth.

Rachel Ortas - A short biography

Formally one half of the 80's French pop sensation Luna Parker, Rachel is currently artist in residence at St Martins College of Art & Design, having studied printing at Chelsea College, and MA Communication Design: Illustration at Central St Martins. She has exhibited in London (at the Science Museum), Helsimki, Paris and St Petersburg. Rachel is also co-editor and Illustrator of OKIDO Magazine (magazine for children).