printmaking, illustration, & cartooning by Margaret Huey
About!
DURIANPUNK collects the work of Margaret Huey, a Thai-American artist, educator, and entertainer operating out of Baltimore. Her work draws influence from metal music, anime, cultural heritage, and sci fi/fantasy to explore the meeting points of the tough and tender.When not arting, teaching, or vending, Margaret can usually be found performing as DIETANIUM with Super Art Fight, the greatest live art competition in the known universe.
© All rights reserved.
DURIANPUNK first tabled under Magga Draws at Tigercon all the way back in 2013. Since then, she has vended at conventions, zinefests, and craft markets of all sizes in the DMV & mid-Atlantic, and is now shooting to vend further from home.Her works sold include art prints made through block printing, screenprinting, risography, and digital prints; zines & comics with an especially tactile edge; battlevest-worthy accessories; and hand-printed, hand-dyed apparel with inclusive sizing.
table setups pictured are all from 2023 onwards; footage ranges from 3ft to 8 ft
Styracosaurus & Friend (2018)
7-layer screenprint, ink drawing
Styracosaurus & Friend was conceptualized in reaction to learning J.R.R. Tolkein had described his orcs as looking like "the least lovely of Mongol-types." Wanting to reimagine an Asian-coded orc to contradict the typically racist stylings of the fantasy race (and to suit my tastes), Styracosaurus & Friend became an unintentional portrait of hazy memories of Bangkok, surrounded by bounties of fruit, fauna, and geckos. The image was accomplished with a unique layering process where I would print a layer, draw the next transparency directly on top, and repeat until satisfied.
The Imagined + The Idol (2018)
2-layer screenprint diptych, ink drawing
The Imagined + The Idol, developed for the Worlds Within Shadow exhibit at Annihilvs Power Electronix, crafts a reinterpretation of Baphomet where the goat-headed occult symbol is not meant to represent a filthy "other." The imagined Baphomet, which attempts to contend with a less colonized concept of beauty and fertility, and the traditional Baphomet are layered in black and UV-reactive ink.
The Ottobuddy: Attack on North Meoward! (2020)
2-layer t-shirt design
Super Art Fight, the greatest live art competition in the known universe, was looking to support our home-base venue, The Ottobar, during COVID shutdowns. I turned their cocktail-touting cat logo into a terrifyingly cute kaiju for a t-shirt design, the profit of which went towards helping cover Ottobar staff wages.
The View from Khun Yai's (2022)
Block print on textured paper
Carved while attending to my Khun Yai's (grandmother's) funerary arrangements. While I was not close to her and had little opportunity to visit her in Bangkok, I still find myself very attached to the school where she lived. This was made with intent to distribute it to friends & family at her final tam boon.
Henshin! Ramakien (2023)
4-layer screenprint, digital drawing
The Ramakien is a Thai translation, culturally and linguistically, of the Ramayana, and is synonymous with dynamic Thai theatrical productions of the story that utilize masks, costuming, martial arts, and epic stakes to tell an entertaining story of good versus evil. Finding the similarities to the tokusatsu genre of Japanese film (which also uses masked heroes, heavy costumes, and stories of good and evil) amusing, I redesigned four major characters of the Ramakien into masked tokusatsu heroes and villains and arranged them in an epic film movie-styled composition.
Please Survive Through Tomorrow, Too (2024)
2-layer screenprint on stained wood, red paper
wip
full catalog coming soon