I’m fascinated by taxidermy (interesting website: acaseofcuriosities.com), which is kind of like admitting a socially distasteful fetish but there it is. It makes no sense to me either, since on the whole I think I prefer animals to humans and if you asked me for a museum recommendation in London (atypically for a former London resident I’ve actually been to some of the visitor attractions), I would dissuade you from the Natural History Museum BECAUSE of the taxidermy. Its shabby, soulless (read depressing!) and unedifying. You leave with the feeling that you know even less about the true nature of animals but a hell of a lot more about the unpleasant impulses of human beings… so if you could actually capture the soul of a creature in bodily form, with a little genuine character and humour of its own, whilst still retaining that “I know its safe really but I’m still scared’ horror-film creepiness, dark but engaging, and all without actually harming an animal – what would you have? Liz McGrath: Uber successful LA artist, whose background is even more unsettling that her sculptures.
I bought her book ‘Everything That Creeps’. It subverts the coffee table.
She’s got an exhibition on at Sloan Arts in New York until May 9th. Which is Saturday. In New York. Oh well.
sallywag 