Animal Magnetism

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• Lauren Davies

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“Alternative taxidermy” is a scary phrase, but artist Lauren Davies isn’t concerned with turning stomachs -- well, not entirely. She once made a bunch of little pedigree dogs out of the fur of ... little pedigree dogs. Mostly, though, she uses household materials and hardware store goods to craft loose approximations of critters, often leaving them wryly ill-formed, as if she simply gave up mid-process after looking critically at her efforts and deciding to hell with it. Her work puts a sharp critical knife into natural history exhibits, in which similarly worn-out beasts reside among lush environments, making the viewer wonder if using the actual animal is really all that much better than, say, cotton and felt. In her new exhibit “When Hell Freezes Over,”she takes a humorous take on a real life story about a young polar bear that wandered into the tiny burg of Twillingate, Newfoundland. The bear was shot, stuffed, and mounted, and is now immortalized as the trophy of the town’s small museum. In Davies’ recreation, the bear is adorably white and puffy, icebergs are sugar cubes, a blanket is a waterfall, and everything is lovely.
April 11-May 31, 2008