i visited the Julia deVille exhibition at the Sophie Gannon Gallery in East Richmond yesterday. i've posted about her before so it was interesting to actually go have a look at her work. Also, i am currently writing up an art essay on Animal Rights for an assessment and she's one of the main artists i'll be discussing so you can guess how excited i was ! When i walked in, the first thing i noticed was how peaceful and beautiful all the animals looked. Half of them had been still born and the others dead from natural cause - the artist only uses animals FOUND dead by natural cause, "I won't kill anything for my work".. This is important to understand about the artist personally when looking at her work because she is a vegetarian and is a strong believer in animal rights. Other artists however such as Nathalia Edenmont or Damien Hirst, have the animals deliberately killed to be presented in their art work.
Before heading out to the exhibition I read up one of her interviews where she discussed,
"I really want to make my audience contemplate their own mortality, so they can in turn appreciate life and this is why i choose the subject matter of death. I think the best way to make people realise how important life is, is by confronting them with the fact that they will die some day. Philosophy is: you never know how long you will be here, so you may as well make the most of it! "
i had this in mind the whole time when i was looking at her work - the idea of death and life, and how quickly they both can come and go. Everything is so unexpected with life, so why not treasure it? Because by preserving the bodies of such innocent creatures and some who did not even get to live (such as the still born) she gives them the chance to live on in a way. The diamonds and accessories placed on most of the animals made their bodies look so precious, and i couldn't help but notice how peaceful they all looked - like they were sleeping. Some of them looked so delicate that i couldn't grasp the idea that they were real - i found myself stroking the kitten at one point just to prove it was real.
Another part of me was a bit scared when looking at her work...(not just because i thought the raven would wake up and attack me) but, what right does she have in manipulating the bodies of such creatures even if they did die of natural cause? Just because everyone is going to die, natural, or not, they are aware of it..animals too. But that doesn't mean that they want a taxidermist stuffing them up and putting them up for display in an art gallery? Wouldn't they rather be buried and decompose naturally? i was in two minds when leaving the gallery. Yes her work was incredible and different. But what else?
Before heading out to the exhibition I read up one of her interviews where she discussed,
"I really want to make my audience contemplate their own mortality, so they can in turn appreciate life and this is why i choose the subject matter of death. I think the best way to make people realise how important life is, is by confronting them with the fact that they will die some day. Philosophy is: you never know how long you will be here, so you may as well make the most of it! "
i had this in mind the whole time when i was looking at her work - the idea of death and life, and how quickly they both can come and go. Everything is so unexpected with life, so why not treasure it? Because by preserving the bodies of such innocent creatures and some who did not even get to live (such as the still born) she gives them the chance to live on in a way. The diamonds and accessories placed on most of the animals made their bodies look so precious, and i couldn't help but notice how peaceful they all looked - like they were sleeping. Some of them looked so delicate that i couldn't grasp the idea that they were real - i found myself stroking the kitten at one point just to prove it was real.
Another part of me was a bit scared when looking at her work...(not just because i thought the raven would wake up and attack me) but, what right does she have in manipulating the bodies of such creatures even if they did die of natural cause? Just because everyone is going to die, natural, or not, they are aware of it..animals too. But that doesn't mean that they want a taxidermist stuffing them up and putting them up for display in an art gallery? Wouldn't they rather be buried and decompose naturally? i was in two minds when leaving the gallery. Yes her work was incredible and different. But what else?
the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core 2010
ghastly grim and ancient raven 2010
charon 2010
psalm 74:19 2010
orcus 2010
kitten drawn hearse 2010
lenore 2010
nevermore 2010
photos by asha
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