Artist research: Morbid curiosity

"Felid Orthrus" 2006

"Capricorn" 2004

Curiosity killed the cat...amongst other things, as I research working with animal remains....

There are  many aspects of Brewers work that interest me. She takes the Victorian/ natural history aesthetic combined with the gothic take on taxidermy, creating curious, impossible creatures.She is amongst a group of artists credited with creating a genre known as rouge taxidermy, that combines mixed media with traditional taxidermy to create these Avant Garde sculptures.

The nature of the materials again a reminder of the fragility of life but also idea of preserving something in time.

 Unlike the Victorians she works ethically with animals that have died naturally, yet very much like the Victorians she will often use every part of the animal employing a waste not want not attitude as a way of honouring the animal. She created a collection of works called Esodermy which uses the inside of the animals exposed muscle internal structure which is very unusual in taxidermy the result its quite grotesque and macabre, reminiscent of medical illustration.

There is also a dry humour in her work. with social and political messages/ puns in the titles and displays of the works.

Though very macabre it gives a whole different dimension to taxidermy 

By using the inside of the animal, it looks like raw meat. I like how this artist uses different materials to create meaning. For example the mummified rat that she gokd plates elevates something seen as a pest into a prize, a treasure.Its also her way of honouring the animal as many are her pets that have passed on.

In the piece titled "Punk peep" a two headed chick. She has couloed the featers hot pink. Creating a totaly unnatural look, more like a soft toy but with the horror element of the mutated animal.

Taken from artists website

 

"EL DORADO (another tale from the rat race) 2020

"Punk Peep" 2004

From artists website

Im working with my deceased dragonfly, who, thankfully seems to have preserved himself . Personally I'm too squeamish ( not to mention entirely untrained) to work in the medium of taxidermy. I find her work fascinating. The act of using actual remains to create the art gives the work a weight like no other medium, and a morbid yet transient quality.

In that vein I must mention Damien Hirst's showstopper " The physical impossibility of death in the mind of the living" which is pretty much self explanatory.