WORCESTER, Mass. – The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery at the College of the Holy Cross presents Zoologia Fantastica, from Jan. 28 – April 5. Zoologia Fantastica is an exhibition featuring the work of seven artists that addresses aesthetic and ethical issues concerning the natural world, especially the animal kingdom. Curated by Cristi Rinklin, assistant professor and studio art division head at the College of the Holy Cross, the exhibition will include works by Christine Baeumler, assistant professor of art at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis; Boston-based artist Brian Burkhardt; New York artist Catherine Chalmers; Kelli Scott Kelley, assistant professor of painting and drawing at Louisiana State University; Boston-based artist Mary Kenny; Boston-based painter Amy Ross; and Minnesota-based sculptor Karl Unnasch.
The exhibition draws on similarities to Jorge Louis Borges’ 1957 anthology, Manuel de Zoologia Fantastica or Book of Imaginary Beings, in which Borges compiles descriptions of fauna from distant mythology as well as those which sprang from the imaginations of such writers as Poe, Homer, Shakespeare, C.S. Lewis, Kafka and Confucius. Similar to the historical descriptions in Borges anthology, the exhibiting artists have each created bodies of work which convey their personal interpretations of the natural world, with respect to the animal kingdom in a current context. Borrowing from mythology, children’s literature, field work at World Heritage Sites, biomedical research, among other experiences, these seven artists bring challenging ethical issues — including genetic manipulation of animals and human competition with animals for natural resources — into extraordinary paintings, assemblage, drawings, and video works.
In conjunction with the exhibition Zoologia Fantastica, the gallery will host a series of artist’s talks and forums on the themes explored by these seven artists, as well as other contemporary artists working with animal imagery. All events will be held in the Cantor Art Gallery unless otherwise noted.
- Jan. 28, 10 a.m. Exhibit Opens: Zoologia Fantastica
- Jan. 30, 5 – 6:30 p.m. Opening reception
- Jan. 31, 4:30 – 5:30 p.m. Roundtable discussion on Darwin’s theory of evolution and the creative process with Baeumler, David Hummon, professor of sociology at Holy Cross, and Karen Ober, assistant professor of biology at Holy Cross in Stein 129.
- Feb. 27, 4:30 – 5:30 p.m. Artist’s talk by Catherine Chalmers in Stein 129.
- March 17, 5 – 6 p.m. Artist’s Talk by Kelli Scott Kelley
- Feb. 13 and March 26, 12 p.m. Guided tour of the exhibition with curator Cristi Rinklin, assistant professor and studio art division head at Holy Cross.
Zoologia Fantastica artists:
Baeumler has produced a series of portraits of endangered species through drawings, paintings, and video. These portraits are often based on her research at World Heritage Sites, including the Australian Rain Forest, the Galapagos Islands, and the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia. The Zoologia Fantastica exhibition will include a recently made video and installation piece inspired by the theories of Charles Darwin that Baeumler developed after a research grant allowed her to spend several months on the Galapagos Islands.
Burkhardt creates small life-like creatures that appear to be actual plants and animals preserved under glass, but are actually an invented species of organisms that he assembles from scrapes of detritus and various modeling materials. The resulting “life” forms often incorporate corporate logos, cell phones, or bits of plastic into their bodies to form a synthesis or hybrid of nature and culture. Burkhardt’s sculptural skill, intellect, and sharp sense of humor merge to create small-scaled environments that one might encounter at a natural history museum of the future.
Chalmers has shown her large-scale photographs and videos of insects and lab mice at various moments of their life cycles in galleries and museums throughout the U.S. and Europe. In a recent series titled “Food Chain,” Chalmers investigates the place of insects in the hierarchy of the living, photographing with technical precision the linkage between predator and prey, eater and eaten, and between plants, insects and amphibians. Zoologia Fantastica will exhibit a series of Chalmers’ large scale C-print portraits of genetically engineered mice which possess characteristics that force the viewer to confront the reality of gene splicing and alteration of “lower” life forms.
Scott Kelley has been a faculty member at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge since 1999. A painter, printmaker, and performance artist, Scott Kelley creates narrative paintings and drawings where personal symbols blend with universal icons, often borrowed from the illustrations of animals in children’s picture books. The work that will be included in Zoologia Fantastica alludes to the contradictions between the reality of contemporary conditions for wild animals in our environment and the images of animals living in imaginary worlds of “cuteness,” where the warm and fuzzy constructions of pop culture reside.
Kenny creates stop-action animated films that were conceived after a frightening personal encounter with a bear in Yosemite National Park.
“As a city girl, I hadn’t realized the unnerving and unpredictable realities of nature and wildlife,” Kenny explains. “This brush with my own mortality led me to examine cultures living in extreme environments, in close proximity to dangerous animals.”
Kenny’s short films have a disarmingly low tech “look” about them in the tradition of children’s literature, picture books and animation, from the Brothers Grimm to South Park, while conveying the unsettling nature of the relationship between the hunter and the hunted.
Ross earned her B.A. in religious studies from Connecticut College, her M.A. in theological studies from Harvard Divinity School and then attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Mass.
According to a recent artist statement Ross explains, “I am interested in the idea of artists as mad scientists. My drawings offer visual hypotheses to the question: what would happen if the DNA sequence of a plant or mushroom were spliced with that of an animal? Using graphite, watercolor, and walnut ink on paper as well as directly on gallery walls in site-specific installations, I portray animals morphed with branches, mushrooms, berries, and blossoms, thus forming implausible hybrid creatures. These images subvert the traditional genre of botanical illustration by approaching the close study of the natural world through the lens of genetic engineering and mutation gone awry.”
Unnasch’s work is deeply related to his experiences growing up on a family farm in rural Minnesota. He received his B.F.A. from Winona State University in Minnesota and his M.F.A. from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. Unnasch’s tableaus and vignettes combine rusticated found objects, some natural materials, and the desiccated carcasses of animal road kill found in the rural setting of Minnesota. Unnasch works these castaway things into exquisite meditations on our contemporary disconnect from the natural world. In recent years, his work has been the subject of a Minnesota Public Radio program and numerous exhibitions at galleries in New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, and at MassMoca in North Adams, Massachusetts.
Gallery Information
The hours for the Cantor Art Gallery are Monday - Friday 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Saturdays 2 - 5 p.m. Located in O’Kane Hall, 1st Floor, College of the Holy Cross, 1 College Street, Worcester, MA, 01610. Admission to the gallery is free.
For additional information please contact the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery at 508-793-3356 or visit the Gallery’s web site.
