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In the spirit of the circus or carnival sideshow, where even a three-legged man would be re-invented to appear more interesting, I have created new ‘histories’ for my subjects in which fact and fancy are liberally mingled. The resulting images confront the viewer with something that at once seems familiar, humorous and startling.

The freakshow, with its quasi-religious overtones, has a theatrical heritage of stylized performance and presentation that dates back many centuries. Very often, a great deal of fraud was involved, but this seemed only to delight patrons all the more.

Art history, like sideshow, has its own formal conventions and traditions; so it seems to me this blending of the aesthetic and the macabre is a natural pairing of ‘high’ and ‘low’ culture — especially since both appeal to one's voyeuristic inclinations. It is my hope that these images compel the viewer to linger and consider their own inhibitions and conceptions in relation to a subject which many consider taboo.

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Viewers of Mundie's Prodigies series will note the seemingly macabre figures which upon immediate viewing might inspire fear and trepidation. Upon closer view these figures lend themselves to curiosity, familiarity and beauty. Mundie's clever juxtaposing of the historical and factual with the bizarre and whimsical creates works infused with great sensitivity, reverence and humor. While the artist's presentation of these subjects has an almost formal structure and quality to them, one cannot dismiss the exquisiteness of these lovely creatures or the artist's painstakingly delicate use of the medium. We are compelled to empathize with these lovely beings.

The artist's execution of his subjects in pen and ink and the intimacy of their size suggest black and white portraits one might encounter in a family photo album from yesteryear. One might even be reminded of the nostalgic imagery from newsprint ads or a weathered carnival poster. Several images capture the likeness of being bathed in an ethereal white light lending themselves to an otherworldly charm.

Mundie's drawings satirically convey a serious message about the viewer's role as voyeur. We are permitted and forced to gaze upon the creatures, but are we to judge them for their differences and abnormalities? Mundie's subjects encourage us to address our own feelings, perceptions and prejudices of standardized beauty and our own humanity. The breadth of this [series] will allow the viewer to gaze, linger and absorb the sheer beauty and merciful execution of these enchanting and extraordinary creatures of James G. Mundie's Prodigies.

--Cathleen Chandler, Woodmere Art Museum

Initially, Mundie's drawings attract attention more for their technique than their subject. His delicate, exquisitely detailed touch with the pen produces images that display the soft, subtle tonalities of aquatint or lithographic prints. Only after soaking up the alluring physicality of the images does one consider the depictions, which, as noted, puts a humanistic, even humorous, face on a mildly taboo subject.

By inserting his subjects into historical contexts, Mundie tests his audience's tolerance for aberration. His beautiful renderings of bizarre figures transform them from sideshow performers into empathetic characters. Through the magic of his hand, these figures become mirrors of our own attitudes about "the other." How we respond to these genetic anomalies becomes the measure of our own humanity.

That may be a lot of baggage to impose on a suite of drawings, but no one expends this much effort just to make people smile. At least I hope not.

--Edward Sozanski, The Philadelphia Inquirer

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