Glazed in beguiling dark humor, this taxidermy sculpture has a serious message that rings even more true today than it did when I originally made the piece ten years ago. As most of you likely have heard, the population of Earth just reached 8 billion. In the span of a mere decade since this sculpture was created, an additional billion humans now live on the planet. Below is the statement that accompanied this sculpture the first time it was exhibited in 2014 in a themed exhibition titled Fruitful and Multiplying – The Overpopulation Exhibit. So much for progress.
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TITLE: Turducken à la Monsanto
MATERIALS: Domestic duck, turkey, and rooster skins
“This piece is a commentary on the absurdity and entitlement of gourmet foods, the privilege of being able to allocate food for the purpose of art, and the disconcerting technology of interspecies grafting performed by the bioengineering industry. The strain on our planet's resources has become immense as the population of Earth crests 7 billion. With a tipping point looming, genetic engineers are creating hybrid species of livestock and crops designed to produce the highest yield possible while using the least amount of resources. The reality is many developing countries do not have the means to utilize this controversial technology and only an elite portion of the Earth's population will profit from these so-called advances. We live in a country rich in all resources. It enables us to use food towards a myriad of frivolous ends, including our entertainment. We create designer cuisine that is more about status than it is about sustenance, and we feed human quality food to our pets. While we enjoy our luxury foods, for much of the world just having food is a luxury.” ~
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I recently culled a number of works from my personal collection to offer for sale. This sculpture is among a handful of others that are now available. Link here for price list
Contemporary art plays a critical role in addressing pressing issues such as the climate crisis, creating paths to upend traditional ways of thinking about our relationship with nature and non-human life. The artists in the publication entitled “The world to come : art in the age of the Anthropocene” make people see the world in a new way. They “engage, contest, and reveal the makings of challenges including colonialism, capitalism, technology, population growth, inequality, displacement, and issues of law, violence, and social justice.” (Page 5, Kerry Oliver-Smith).
This is one of the publications we would recommend for the world leaders at the United Nation’s Climate Change Conference COP27, which began this week.
Image on the front cover:
Gideon Mendel, Adlene Pierre, Savanne Desolée, Gonaïves, Haiti, September 2008, from the series Drowning World, 2008. Chromogenic print. Courtesy of the artist and Axis Gallery, New York and New Jersey.
The world to come : art in the age of the anthropocene
Edited by Kerry Oliver-Smith.
Gainesville : Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, [2018]
xi, 169 pages : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 31 cm
English
[2018]
HOLLIS number: 99153839528503941
“Captain’s log, stardate 12.17.2023. Space… the final frontier… These are the voyages of rogue taxidermy. My 25-year-old mission: to explore strange new works. To seek out new life via new amalgamations. To boldly go where no man has gone before”
TITLE: You Have a Wonderful Future Behind You
MATERIALS: Tanned and dehaired squirrel hide covered with schlagmetal (body), recycled platinum mink remnants (tail), mirrored stainless steel marbles (eyes), nickel-plated bank pins (rivets), antique jewelry box feet, vintage Swarovski cut crystal acorn, deco-style black lacquer wood plinth, artificial turf
One of my taxidermy sculptures that recently landed at Lovetts Gallery in Tulsa. The theme for this particular exhibition was “Area 51”. I enjoy the challenge of coming up with concepts that fit into themed shows and one pushed taxidermy to the outer limits. This piece was inspired by a theory that suggests extraterrestrials are time traveling humans from Earth’s future. No one can predict the future, but there are inevitabilities in the foreseeable. More flora and fauna will go extinct. Technology will increasingly replace organic processes. Our world will slowly fill up with artificially created plants. Artificially created animals. Artificial environments. Artificial intelligence. Artificial everything. After we are gone, there will only be monuments to what once was. This piece is intended not only to evoke the feeling of a monument, but also to mimic a trophy; a satirical award for our stellar stewardship of the planet.
Planet Love A couple of stitched typos (watching Gosford Park at same time) but happy with the outcome. Going to attach it to our tree this afternoon. ... #love #planetlove #loveplanet #knitstagram #knittersofinstagram #knitting #knittingaddict #knittedworld #knittedplanet #craft #craftivist #crativism #textileartist #artist #communityartist #environmentalactivism #environmentalart #world #worldlove #sendinglove #knittedsquares #gosfordpark #gosfordparkfilm #watchingfilms https://www.instagram.com/p/Co2AR4Uo2-j/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=