Embodied paradox: taxidermy and contemporary art, 1990-present

Taxidermy—the product of preparing, stuffing, and mounting animal skin—is constructed of both animal and man-made materials. It promotes an illusion of life predicated on the reality of death. Although popular in the late nineteenth century, taxidermy fell out of scientific favor during the twentieth century. At the turn of the twenty-first century, however, the relevance of taxidermy was revived by visual artists. By peeling back the layers of taxidermy's unique materiality and revealing its hidden historical, cultural, and theoretical implications, this dissertation argues that taxidermy was resurrected as a popular artistic medium due to its ability to—literally and metaphorically—embody paradox. Embodied Paradox examines the contemporary art world’s fascination with taxidermy by investigating the oeuvres of Damien Hirst, Mark Dion, Maurizio Cattelan, and Petah Coyne. These artists gained notoriety in the nineties and their work, which heavily features taxidermy, embraces contradiction. They demonstrate that opposites—such as truth and illusion, nature and culture, and the masculine and the feminine—do not exist in opposition of one another; rather, they coexist. Furthermore, by forging connections among the fields of Art History, Animal Studies, and New Materialism, it will become clear that taxidermy is linked to important issues of the 1990s and 2000s, such as: technology and craft, beauty and abjection, identity and the environment. It will also become clear that contemporary artists are using taxidermy to comment on humanity’s ever-present, ever-changing, and ever-troubled relationship with animals.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical referencesby Heather N. Cammarata-Seal