British ceramicist Sophie Woodrow knows that the Victorian fascination with nature (though it was firmly defined as 'other' than human), collecting and romanticizing nature in a way which was ultimately kitsch is a great place to seek ideas and inspiration. Though most Victorian science was of the 'descriptive' sort, I know I find their romantic and sometimes heroic collecting an inspiration myself; it is definitely a class of activity at the fertile intersection of art and science, like the building of wunderkammers (Cabinets of Curiosity), gathering everything from rocks, to ferns, to fossils, to exotic animal species from around the world. I love how she describes the Victorian "enormous misinterpretations of geological evidence" (particularly of biological evolution) as "a game of Chinese whispers1 played over millennia". She's been inspired by natural history, and our changing ideas about evolution, to create a growing collection of ceramic "might-have-beens". This makes me think of the Rhinogrades, the wonderous "might-have-evolved" creatures of Harald Stümpke [Gerolf Steiner]. Her imaginary-animal pots are likewise truly wonderful.
1 "Chinese whispers" is the British name for what North Americans call the game of "broken telephone" where a message passed by whispers from person to person, mutating as it travels along.
I notice the Victorian era seems to be a common inspiration in illustration of late. High collars and Daguerreotypes abound. You see in with the bright colours and ubiquitous, geometric, crystalline shapes or anthropomorphism or other trope which gives a new, contemporary and perhaps surreal spin.
Shary Boyle 2005. Porcelain, china paint. 20cm tall. Collection of the National Gallery of Canada.
Blogosphere favorite Lisa Congdon is another self-trained California artist. You should check out the other sections of her portfolio too. It's filled with wildlife, text and multimedia.
This reminds me of The Artificial Kingdom: On the Kitsch Experience by Celeste Olalquiaga, a fascinating book tracing the history of kitsch and linking it to a sense of loss. In a sense, it's all about death. It seems to me that this installation is about loss of these insects and their habitat, loss of childhood wonder, and loss of Victorian 'innocence' (if such a thing existed).
