Large Fierce Mammal

“Pray” by Kate Clark

Last year’s Dark Sentiments profiled the work of Juan Cabana, and described him then as, “… a taxidermist of a different sort, who plies his trade mounting the remains of sea creatures that never were.” The world is too full of artists working in the dark and bizarre realm of creativity for me not to expose you to them here, and so today we’ve got more interesting taxidermy from the studio of our fourth feature artist for DS 2012 – Kate Clark.

According to her bio as it appears on her website:

Kate Clark is a sculptor who lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Her work studies the tension between personal and mythical realms by creating sculpture that synthesizes the human face and the body of wild animals.

As one of the artists whose work is included in the  in the 14 October to 20 November 2011 Cute & Creepy exhibition at the Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts, her Artist’s Statement gives this additional insight:

My current work studies the tension between personal and mythical realms. I create “unnatural” sculpture that synthesizes the human face and the body of wild animals. Initially, these forms can be shocking and repelling as viewers both recognize and reject their presence. The disruptive alignment of the human and the untamed asks us to accommodate what cannot be known. The juxtaposition of the intimate face and animal body asserts that human experience is mostly contained, a mask which is incomprehensible and psychologically complex.

We bring assumptions to any contemplation of the “wild.” The wild animals – coyotes, gazelles, wildebeests, fawns – evoke memory of what we cannot recall, memory of our primitive, dangerous selves. The tamed face, our face, is a mirror reflecting safety and cultivation. Emotion is caught in the eyes, the mouth, the tilt of the head. A single life, with its private and unique history, gazes back at us. I ask you to empathize, to seek out yourselves in the vulnerability of expression and to embrace a relationship between a specific experience and a great universal mystery. Here, the dichotomy between intimate and expansive terrain is celebrated, eliciting a primal response.

Mrs. Clark’s website contains a sizeable portfolio of her work which is created using actual animal hides, real antlers where necessary, foam, clay, pins, thread, and rubber eyes. Prepare to be gobsmacked by the assemblage of highlights I’ve compiled below.

“The Map is Not the Territory”

“Antics”

“Preoccupied”

“Bully”

“Little Girl”

“Sharp Tongue”

“The Pack”

Now click here, and get the big picture!