Wilder Mann by Charles Fréger

My friend Jeff (a talented photographer in his own right) alerted me to to this incredible series of European mythological monsters brought to life by artist Charles Fréger. The child in me rejoices and recoils, remembering Serbian stories I was told as a kid of 'bauk' and 'babaroga'. I could study these for hours, and have ordered his book to make this possible, I suggest you do the same. I'll post more about this when the book arrives, but in the meantime:

"I was going on an excursion within tribal Europe, the polar opposite of our images of modern civilisations. I was entering into a territory of landscapes as far as the eye can see. Wilder Mann was its archetypal hero, half man half beast, a hairy monster, a multi-faceted devil, a bloodthirsty or soft teddy bear, a fertile caprine or a scapegoat wild boar.
 I had envisioned an organic wild man, hidden behind mud, grease, charcoal, the sculpted wood of his horned mask, covered in leaves or dead animals, wearing his bells noisily. I had already fantasised that he was like an animal belonging to a pack of crouching bipeds: the essential model of a zoomorphic figure, whose rudimentary appearance and ritualistic attire would classify him as belonging to a form of universal nudity". —Charles Fréger

And here you can listen to composer Teho Teardo's musical tribute based on this project.