Humbug - What is it?

Anthony Bennett has been commissioned to create a new stature of one of the worlds most famous showmen, P.T Barnum, which can bee seen during our Showzam Festival at Showzam Central.

Anthony Bennett has given the following statement for his interpretation of the statue:

In a metamorphosis akin to the transmutations of Comic book heroes, Barnum has become “Humbug”, half man, half insect. An entomological angel, resplendently dressed in brightly coloured tail and waistcoats. His exoskeleton shimmers with a silky iridescence, hued and vibrant. Is this the garb of the supreme showman, or the chicest of superheroes, or is it natures way of warning us not to be fooled, beware candied hokum.

He appears to have just flown in, planting his Liberty flag, staking his claim to this territory in the name of some Wonderland. Will he alight his ‘spear’? Will he leap high above and amongst us? Run rings around us? This Shaman. What gifts has he brought us? Or will he devour us?

Humbug clasps the Lincoln Flag of 1864, the flag of Republicanism, of emancipation. Liberty through freakery? Humbug presents and promotes peculiar identity, and individualism. Unswerving and unapologetic, he is the consummate purveyor of hoax. Humbug is the embodiment and enactment of hype. Undoubtedly the quintessential opportunist. But bloodsucker?