Much better than a dog chained up in gallery.
This show Actus Reus at the Chelsea in New York, features Tamara Kostianovsky. Cow carcasses are hung throughout the gallery like a butcher shop, but they are made from discarded clothes, not beef by-products. Though it is not the artist’s primary intention, her works speaks to the cruelty of Guillermo Habacuc Vargas, a Central American artist, who starved a stray dog as part of an exhibition in Nicaragua.
And as an artist, I have more professional respect for some who creates work to emphasize a point, than some one who pays kids to catch the work. And looking at the detail Kostianovsky has put into her solo exhibit, this was a time consuming piece. And creepily cool!
Interestingly enough, both artist refer to a culture with an increasing indifference to violence. But which is more successful?
