Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Animal Rights Artist Angela Singer
There's a post over at the Cool Hunting blog about the New Zealand based artist Angela Singer.
"While a strident activist against all forms of animal cruelty—including vivisection—much of her recent artwork is made from discarded hunting trophies and other taxidermy that strives to illuminate human exploitive tendencies of the rest of the animal kingdom. It's a chilling effect; these carcasses highlight how grotesque natural beauty can become after suffering at the hands of humanity." Cool Hunting
Being an animal rights activist seems to give the artist the right to use dead animals, in the same way that a black man can make black jokes. If Damien Hirst did this work we would just think that the old British artist is just being sick again. But because there's a message behind Angela Singer's work, I feel fine about it.
I still wouldn't like it hanging on my wall though. The last dead thing I brought home was the skull of a bull. I found it while rowing down a little creek and sat it at the front of the boat. Then a bunch of cows came out of nowhere and were bellowing out to me.. like I was stealing the remains of their loved one. My friend said to just row faster! I brought it home to use it as a still life prop, but I could never get the cries of the other cows out my head, so I had to get rid of it.
Anyway, her website is really interesting. I also came across the Criminal Animal project, for those that interested in both art and animals.
>> Art Exhibitions, Controversial Art ¶ 11:49 PM
There's a post over at the Cool Hunting blog about the New Zealand based artist Angela Singer."While a strident activist against all forms of animal cruelty—including vivisection—much of her recent artwork is made from discarded hunting trophies and other taxidermy that strives to illuminate human exploitive tendencies of the rest of the animal kingdom. It's a chilling effect; these carcasses highlight how grotesque natural beauty can become after suffering at the hands of humanity." Cool Hunting
Being an animal rights activist seems to give the artist the right to use dead animals, in the same way that a black man can make black jokes. If Damien Hirst did this work we would just think that the old British artist is just being sick again. But because there's a message behind Angela Singer's work, I feel fine about it.
I still wouldn't like it hanging on my wall though. The last dead thing I brought home was the skull of a bull. I found it while rowing down a little creek and sat it at the front of the boat. Then a bunch of cows came out of nowhere and were bellowing out to me.. like I was stealing the remains of their loved one. My friend said to just row faster! I brought it home to use it as a still life prop, but I could never get the cries of the other cows out my head, so I had to get rid of it.
Anyway, her website is really interesting. I also came across the Criminal Animal project, for those that interested in both art and animals.
>> Art Exhibitions, Controversial Art ¶ 11:49 PM
I agree with you. As an animal lover I was disturbed by the work but then i thought thats possibly the right reaction. i think i could have one in my lounge to remind me what i believe in. Think she would give me one;)
YIKES!!!!!!!! but she sure gets her message across. I think if she wasn't using discarded animals then I would have a real problem. It is when artists kill/hurt animals to use in art that I squirm horribly.
Gross! And nothing like the real thing.
As a small boy I went shopping with my mother some years after World War II, when rationing was still in force in the UK and there was little food in the shops. Our local butcher's shop always had a line of dead rabbits hanging from a rail. Boy, did I look forward to rabbit stew, when we had enough rationing points for a rabbit!
Due to my childhood experience, I can't see this as "don't be cruel to animals" art. It's just a poor representation of what I saw - and hungered for - in the butcher's shop.
Even allowing for artistic licence and an unrealistic portrayal for shock value, I think the artist should try starving a little before she preaches about what people eat. There were few fat kids in those days. Most of us were skinny.
In the 1950's I saw the horror of Myxomatosis, with rabbit corpses everywhere and dying rabbits tottering about. That sight was a lot more shocking than this art. It was real. And it was the end of rabbits hanging in butcher's shops. They've been off the menu in the UK ever since.
One thing I'll say for this art, it certainly triggered some memories!
As a small boy I went shopping with my mother some years after World War II, when rationing was still in force in the UK and there was little food in the shops. Our local butcher's shop always had a line of dead rabbits hanging from a rail. Boy, did I look forward to rabbit stew, when we had enough rationing points for a rabbit!
Due to my childhood experience, I can't see this as "don't be cruel to animals" art. It's just a poor representation of what I saw - and hungered for - in the butcher's shop.
Even allowing for artistic licence and an unrealistic portrayal for shock value, I think the artist should try starving a little before she preaches about what people eat. There were few fat kids in those days. Most of us were skinny.
In the 1950's I saw the horror of Myxomatosis, with rabbit corpses everywhere and dying rabbits tottering about. That sight was a lot more shocking than this art. It was real. And it was the end of rabbits hanging in butcher's shops. They've been off the menu in the UK ever since.
One thing I'll say for this art, it certainly triggered some memories!
Here in Australia Myxomatosis was introduced to try and get rid of rabbits. They're a real pest as they breed like.. rabbits! and the native wildlife is wiped out.
So when I see a rabbit, I don't think of it as a tasty meal or a cute little bunny, but a pest that is taking over the habitats of native animals.
I would rather see wombats, possums, and other Aussie marsupials hopping about than a bunch of feral rabbits. I still wouldn't have the heart to go around shooting them though.
I probably went off topic there, but yeah, one thing that art does very well is bring up memories.
So when I see a rabbit, I don't think of it as a tasty meal or a cute little bunny, but a pest that is taking over the habitats of native animals.
I would rather see wombats, possums, and other Aussie marsupials hopping about than a bunch of feral rabbits. I still wouldn't have the heart to go around shooting them though.
I probably went off topic there, but yeah, one thing that art does very well is bring up memories.
Interesting view coxsoft. I remember seeing rabbits hung up at the market in Newcastle or at the local butchers shop. I never thought anything negative about it either, it was just food at the butchers shop.
Even though I do agree with the cause, I don't think that what she produces can be called art. Maybe it should just be called a protest
Hi
I think that by using animals or humans in our art pieces our intentions as an artists touches our emotions deeply, we talk about real problems in life, by using one recicled animal or a naked body we are not killing anybody is just a little reminder of what is happening in real time.
I have been accused to be a criminal for one of my art pieces where i show my 8 year old daughter nude body, I think people who make this comments should have a better connection with the world and the different issues we are experiencing.
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I think that by using animals or humans in our art pieces our intentions as an artists touches our emotions deeply, we talk about real problems in life, by using one recicled animal or a naked body we are not killing anybody is just a little reminder of what is happening in real time.
I have been accused to be a criminal for one of my art pieces where i show my 8 year old daughter nude body, I think people who make this comments should have a better connection with the world and the different issues we are experiencing.
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