Plush Monsters of the Mundane by Esty Gertzman

Homage to Hitchcock by Esty Gertzman

Amsterdam-based Esty Gertzman infuses the fibers of her needle-felted plush art with a big dose of pop culture and a side order of humor. In her Homage to Hitchcock (above), two monsters act out the iconic shower scene from Psycho…with a banana.

LA Monster by Esty Gertzman

The scene above must have taken place before the banana confrontation. LA Monster shows the previously showering monster with three visual shout-outs to Los Angeles: The Hollywood sign, the palm tree and the gridlock. Most of Gertzman’s monsters are engaged in mundane, everyday activities. I think her juxtaposition of a wacky monster and a common scenario is what makes the work so sweet.

Gertzman began making art with wood and bronze, but when she swapped her studio to work from home, cleaning up all the saw dust got tiring. She writes:

“I thought, why not try felting? No noise, no dust, and I can finally hear the music. Just perfect!”

Nice.

Ice Cream Hills by Esty Gertzman

You can follow Gertzman on Flickr and Behance and pick up her original, affordable plush creatures on etsy. It doesn’t look like Monster Eating Ice Cream (above) is for sale, but Monster Struck by Lighting (below, $25) and the Homage to Hitchcock ($86), (plus a bunch of felted monsters involved in banal tasks like making omelets and hanging laundry) are available now. Fun!

Monster Struck by Lightning by Esty Gertzman