Description

How artists from Hans Arp to Mike Kelley have employed animal motifs to diverse ends

Within the visual arts, animals--as pets, in zoos or farms, or as stuffed animals--have evoked an array of thematic matter: sex, hunger and affection; family and gender relations; socialization and domestication; and the enduring impact of colonial history. Aided by numerous critical essays, The Animal Within explores the popular appeal of animals in art to interrogate structures of violence and domination. As a motif, the animal serves as a powerful starting point for arriving at a materialist understanding of art and life, and not merely in a figurative sense--bones, skins, hides and feathers prominently feature in these artworks.
Artists include: Hans Arp, Georg Baselitz, Joseph Beuys, Mike Kelley, Maria Lassnig, Ulrike Müller, Bruce Nauman, Nam June Paik, Mel Ramos, Dieter Roth, Niki de Saint Phalle and Carolee Schneemann.