Dead or Alive: New Life Through Art

Levi van Veluw's "Landscapes" at MAD.

Although the material used in the pieces for the  “Dead or Alive” exhibit at the Museum of Art and Design are formed from things that are no longer living these works create a lively atmosphere. The “living art” from more than 30 international artists, including Damien Hirst and Jennifer Angus, goes beyond taxidermy to create a powerful installation of avant-garde organic art. Since prehistoric times humans have been using things once alive in religious, cultural and artistic ways. The artists in this show use materials such feathers, bones and plants in a similar manner bringing their works back to life in their own unique way.

A standout piece in the show, “Fragile Future”, is constructed out of dandelions illuminated by LED lights surrounded by a maze of copper squares. It is a peaceful work that awes and may make one desire to lightly blow, make a wish and turn the dead flower lights out one by one. It was made by studioDRIFT Netherlands team Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta, which states “ Light expresses emotions in a very direct way. Fragile Future reflects not only a poignant longing for the past, but also a curiosity about what the future might bring.”

“Spice Skulls” by Helen Altman takes 60 types of spices and adorns skulls with lavender, licorice, star anise or black sesame seed. Altman a Texas based artist has been working with skulls since the 90s. Additional bone pieces include Billie Grace Lynn’s menacing “Mad Cow Motorcycle” which links a cow skeleton into a sculpture of motorcycle and Mark Swanson’s Untitled (Antler Pile) that looks like a Christmas tree pile of rhinestoned antlers.

Tim Tate and Marc Petrovic collaborated on “Apothecarium Moderne” consists of nine stoppered containers filled with organic and found objects meant to cure human problems such as loss of faith, infertility and intelligent design. The apothecary jar to cure Erectile Dysfunction a photo of pinup Bettie Page and oysters has topper of Viagra. Inside the jar to solve Dysfunctional Family there is a turkey surrounded by broken wishbones with a topper of wedding rings.

There are a few sculptures in the show that take “eww” factor with pigeon feathers and Bluebottle flies and produce a new beautiful allure. “Discharge” by Kate MccGuire is a floor to ceiling cascading horn sculpture embellished with pigeon feathers that resemble brushstrokes.  Irish artist Claire Morgan’s “ On Top of the World” assembles flies in a geometric square swarm with a spider caught in the middle. The piece draws one in as it freezes these free flying insects in a perfect cube. Morgan has worked with several types of animals in her work including butterflies, crows, owls and mice. She says she like to work with “beauty and horror” in her pieces and take things that are “small and insignificant yet beautiful.”

“Landscapes” is series of photographs from Levi van Veluw that shows a bust covered with green moss or carved wood. It is both intensely spooky while holding natural beauty. It is like many of the pieces in the show quietly unnerving but in a strangely striking fashion. The exhibit Dead or Alive runs through October 24.