From Pieter Hugo’s The Hyena & Other Men, a fascinating and haunting series of photographs.
Herd Instinct by Teresa Cunniff. I spotted this array of resin deer ears (at least that’s what I take them to be, but I like their ambiguity) at this summer’s Outlandish show in the Bedford Gallery in Walnut Creek, CA.
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I saw the work “Fixed Strays” by Loo Bain at an MFA show in New York in February—it consisted of some wound up bits of thread and string formed into the shapes of animals, and three of these creatures were suspended from the ceiling. And while perusing the artist’s website, I found an awesome tent made with fabric bearing Carl Sagan’s likeness. I SO want that.
At Soo VAC’s Get Lucky shindig last weekend, Minnesota artist Karl Unnasch was working at his desk turning ordinary objects into strange little works of art. Oh, and his desk was suspended from the ceiling such that he was ten feet in the air. I became curious about him, and it turns out his work is pretty darn interesting. I particularly like these animals cast in iron or steel (originally roadkill, I believe), then transformed into landscapes.
I have liked Laura Owens’ odd paintings since I stumbled upon her work in an L.A. gallery years ago. I bought her book, and it was upside-down— when the cover’s the right way up, the inside pages are upside-down. I always wondered whether this was a mistake or art…
Love this series by Jamie Campbell called Beasts of Burden. In fact, all of his work is interesting. I’m certainly posting a lot of photographers… shows my bais, I guess. Can’t resist a luscious photo.
Alessandra Sanguinetti is one of my fave photographers. Her series On the Sixth Day was made at a family farm in Argentina, and it focuses on the animals on the farm, from cows to dogs to emus. It’s a realistic look (read: sometimes bloody) at our relationship with animals on the farm.
Frank Noelker did a series of portraits of chimpanzees that were once used in entertainment, medical research, and the like, but now live in sanctuaries in North America. The portraits are hauntingly beautiful, and really respect the individual experiences of these beings, like Sue Ellen (above).
(I am reminded of the monkey and ape portraits by Jill Greenberg. While I like some of those images, overall her work has such a commercial slickness that it kinda freaks me out.)
I stopped by Soo VAC the other day and caught the show soft chaos by David Bowen. Very cool stuff. Three blimps wander around the room, controlled (indirectly) by the movements of a swarm of house flies, which are in a pod attached to the base. Like wee hot air balloon adventurers. These airships mill around you, and with the background noise of the humming engines and fly-wings, it all feel a bit otherworldly.
This work reminds me of some of Amy Youngs’ stuff, which I also love.