The Passenger

Andrew Maughan (b. Newcastle, 1987) graduated from Northumbria University in 2009 with a BA in Fine Arts. He lives and works in London where he is in the final year of a post graduate degree at the Royal Academy Schools.

The character in this body of work is The Great Assassin. Inspired by the Zodiac serial killer, the works of Edvard Munch, Philip Guston, Sidney Nolan and various movies depicting white men operating outside the law.The eye-holes are cut directly into the canvas, an act inspired by Bertolt Brecht’s ‘Verfremdungseffekt’. Described as ‘playing in such a way that the audience was hindered from simply identifying itself with characters in the play’.The story of the Zodiac, a man who murdered people, used the media to spread fear, disinformation and increase his own infamy, then got away with it all, echoes modern day stories of power-hungry white men who abuse their position.A white man, hiding in plain sight, who never paid for his crimes.