"Dead" art

Les Deux Garçons

Since I have introduced my blog linking its start with some might find weird associations (dead horses, believe me, I like live creatures much more), I dedicate my first post to a selection of dead-animal related artworks. Leaving Damien Hurst’s sharks and other ex-living creatures placed in furacilin liquid and Maurizio Cattelan’s obsession with dead horses, I want to introduce a duet Les Deux Garçons from my favorite Amsterdam-based  Jaski gallery. Myself, I am against having hunting trophies of stuffed animals on the walls and the idea of someone disemboweling once-living creature gives me shiver and goose bumps, yet I cannot say I have a feeling of disgust or negative senses seeing what these two guys create. Funky and eloquent, these sculptures give an impression of looking at alive fairy-tale creatures (well, some of post-Chernobyl brood, e.g., L'adieu impossible, Le malentendu, La patience vient à bout du tout) and a theme of death here is well cured-in. Their morbid humor does not disturb me. Yet, would I like to have one of their art creatures in my house? I doubt, for two reasons: firstly, if I ever have kids I would not like them to see these pieces in my house and since they are so beautiful, it would be shameful to hide them and secondly, these works are not cheap.