Follow curious creatures across galactic vistas, pixelated gaming maps, and streetscapes in Jeremy Couillard’sFuzz Spiral. A rat-dog in a witch’s hat holds court with a reptilian mutant amidst a flurry of stardust; a disembodied head rhythmically nods from a veranda; a starship spirals across surreal and vivid paper collage terrain. As Fuzz Spiral appears on the digital screens of Times Square, viewers are transported into fantastical worlds and new dimensions of color and light.

The images of Fuzz Spiral (2021) come from Fuzz Dungeon, a video game the painter and self-taught new media artist released earlier this summer. Fuzz Dungeon takes players through fifteen surreal levels of what Couillard describes as “absurdist human history” to find an amulet — a Sasquatch Sex Amulet, to be more precise — in order to return to reality. Oscillating between wonder and awe, confusion and uncertainty, the player never knows where they will go next and with whom as they are propelled through phantasmagorical game spaces.

In conjunction with Couillard’s Midnight Moment, Daata will present Sasquatch Sex Amulet and Other Objects from the Fuzz Spiral, an online exhibition and merch store which serves as a continuation of Couillard’s Fuzz Spiral universe.

"This exhibition is a little store of digital and physical objects that relate to the world inside the video game and reflect on the panoramic screening of the gameworld in nighttime atmosphere of the hyper commercialized, bright light whirl of Times Square.

I haven't been going beyond the confines of my work/home borders much lately. When I meet new people it's hard to get much of a converstation going beyond the news or weather of real estate. Maybe if I had a shirt with a monster on it or a tote with a question or bold statement to turn the small talk into something more nuanced?  Maybe new connections can still happen and stop everything from spiraling away into a fuzzy mess."

— Jeremy Couillard, artist