Artist Research: Maurizio Cattelan and Angela Singer

I have paired Maurizio Cattelan and Angela Singer in this post for their use of sculpture, taxidermy and realism in their work. Other than these qualities, there is little in common between the two.

Cattelan is a controversial character making controversial works; confusing, annoying and amusing his audiences. A prime example of this and one of my favourites is 'The Ninth Hour,' a realistic wax work of Pope John Paul being struck by a meteorite. In relation to my own work, I have focused on Cattelan's use of taxidermy and presentation of his works. such as 'Novecento.' The horse hangs suspended from the ceiling. Legs extended, the lifeless body appears to be stretching towards the ground it can't and won't reach. This absurd image is striking and strong, comical yet dark too which are themes Cattelan often plays with the balance of. A criticism of my Cattelan influences is that his use of the animal form has nothing to do with advocacy or respect that I theme the purpose of my work around, but his qualities of strong and bold presentations, the use of humour and playfulness but combined with a serious motive are all areas that I aim to use and develop further in my work. The use of humour and a light-hearted approach I have found can be useful in engaging an audience and Cattelan is well known for his social engagement whether with a positive or negative outcome. This is something else I can take away from his work, as a method to engage an audience in issues that are important to me.

Angela Singer is strongly influenced by animal rights, in particular hunting. This is evident in her choice of material of old trophy hunt taxidermy, often damaged and unkempt, that she re invents so that the object works on the animal's behalf. Decorated with flowers and various jewels, the pieces are often a mix of beautiful and grotesque which divides opinions and feelings towards the work as they come across quite strongly emotive. I think this emotive response is interesting and very important for the works whether people are upset by them or respectful of them. If I didn't know Singer's animal rights fuelled reasons for making the work I think I would be initially a bit repulsed at the sight of damaged taxidermy coated in shiny bits, but with the background knowledge it does effect my outlook and I feel quite warmly towards the works now. This emotive effect is very useful for artwork that has a political context behind it and fits Singer's style of work well. This is something I could experiment with in my own work as my use of deer and bears is partly for the themes of hunting for sport and culling, but that might not always be evident in my execution.