For someone who is used to the occasionally controversial subject of taxidermy in art, I was still a little shocked by some of the work by Afke Golsteijn and Floris Bakker, better known as The Idiots. They build on the taxidermy forms with such materials as beads, embroidery, glass and metal often as symbolism for a deeper meaning. For example in Ophelia, the lioness and the gold could indeed be a signifier of the human desire to transform the beauty of nature into profit but generally speaking they use the adornment of various species is an effort to conjure up a new kind of beauty that almost glamorises death, balancing between beauty and brutality without completely committing to either. Overall these surreal pieces evoke many conflicting emotions with a demonstration of the power of nature and mortality which in my opinion makes the work incredibly powerful.
On the Idiots website there is this description: A contemporary touch is given to the classical memento mori concept, questioning the world’s current trend in over glorification through marketing. In a constantly twisting play between fantasy and reality, Idiots tell us about important themes such as life, death, beauty and restriction.
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