A cute white kitten with a flourish of rainbow fur has been peering out from posters on the London Underground over the past few weeks, its fluffy head crowned with a golden unicorn horn. But look again and the image becomes disconcerting. This chubby little creature has an extra pair of paws poking out from its neck, while its metallic horn looks more like a screw that has been driven through its skull. Those big blue eyes no longer seem so cute, but blank and menacing.
“We wanted to make you feel uncomfortable,” says Claire Catterall, curator of Cute, a new exhibition at Somerset House. “So we needed something a bit queasy, encapsulating both irresistible cuteness, but also a darker side.”
