Creepy cool sculpture by Brooklyn artist Kate Clark. From her bio:
Kate Clark is a sculptor who lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Her sculptures synthesize the human face and the body of wild animals, exploring the overlap that exists across our cultures, and within our histories.
Kate had her first solo exhibit at Claire Oliver Gallery in New York in 2008. Since then she has been included in solo and group museum exhibitions at the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, The Islip Art Museum, and The Bellevue Arts Museum, the Mobile Museum of Art, MOFA: Florida State University, Cranbrook Art Museum, Frist Center for the Visual Arts, The Winnepeg Art Gallery, the Glenbow Museum, the Musée de la Halle Saint Pierre, Paris, The Art Gallery at Cleveland State University, and the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art. She is currently working on a commissioned sculpture for the Nevada Museum of Art.
Her work is collected internationally and is in public collections such as the JP Morgan Chase Art Collection, the 21c Collection, the David Roberts Art Foundation in London, and the C-Collection in Switzerland. Clark attended Cornell University for her BFA and Cranbrook Academy of Art for her MFA and has been awarded fellowships from the Jentel Artists Residency in Wyoming, The Fine Arts Work Center Residency in Provincetown, MA., and the Marie Walsh Sharpe Studio Program in New York. Clark was nominated for a Louis Comfort Tiffany Award and an American Academy of Arts and Letters award. Clark was awarded a grant from The Virginia Groot Foundation in 2013 and a New York Foundation For the Arts (NYFA) Fellowship Award in 2014.
Clark’s sculptures have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, New York Magazine, Art21:Blog, The Village Voice, PAPERmag, The Atlantic, NYArts, Huffington Post, Hi Fructose, the BBC World News Brazil, Hey! Magazine, Time Out, ID Paris, Cool Hunting, Wallpaper, and many other publications. Kate’s work is the cover image for art ltd. magazine, November/December 2014.
Artist Statement
When encountering my sculptures, the viewer is faced with a lifelike fusion of human and animal that investigates which characteristics separate us within the animal kingdom, and more importantly, which unite us. The sculptures visually, emotionally and intellectually explore this overlap that exists across cultures, along histories, and within societies.
Our current lifestyle does not necessitate physical interaction with wild animals. Yet we revere the natural world and are seduced by characteristics we no longer see in ourselves, such as fierceness, instinctiveness, purity. I work with hide to create traditionally mounted animal bodies, utilizing the impetus for taxidermy: our endless curiosity to see animals, and our desire to celebrate their unique features.
The unexpectedness of the human face on these animals also evokes curiosity. They are obviously reconstructed yet they are not monstrous, they are approachable, natural, calm, innocent, dignified. The facial features are believable and the skin, which is the animal’s skin, has been shaved to reveal porous and oily features that we recognize as our own. The viewer has an intimate relationship with the face and then identifies with the animal, acknowledging the animalistic inheritance within the human condition.
View more of her work here.