Can Art be Dead?

     It is hard to say what exactly falls under the category of art. Perhaps this is because the world of art is expanding everyday with new technologies or because there is no firm definition of what can be called art. Despite there being no concrete definition, I would imagine, that few people would consider dead animals to be works of art... A few days ago I too would have fallen into this category. When I think of dead animals, I generally think of roadkill.. Despite these preconceived notions about dead animals I do really enjoy Polly Morgan's latest collection, Psychopomps, showing at London's Haunch of Venison and I do believe my mind has been changed about what can be called "art". 


     Morgan trained early in her career as a taxidermist, specializing in skinning and mounting animals before recontexutalizing her work in a gallery setting, presenting the stuffed, trussed specimens like bizarre Victorian curios: rats in champagne glasses, dead chicks spilling out of the crevices of old coffins, and exquisite corpses entombed in jewellery cases. Her current work reflects her taxidermy skills and uses them in a new art form. I wonder if this will catch on?

"Flight of Fancy (Nuthatch), 2009 Crystal jewellery box, 2009 Crystal jewellery boxtaxidermy Nuthatch, © Polly Morgan"

"Carrion Call, (Detail) 2009 by Polly Morgan. Wooden coffin, taxidermy quail chicks"

Polly Morgan Still Birth (Purple), 2010, Taxidermy pheasant chick"