A 5min conversation with me will pretty surely reveal that I don’t only lack in knowledge but also in imagination when discussing modern art. I prefer to watch, to listen, or with regards to the next case, to read about artists’ personal experiences.

Not so long ago I read an article about British taxidermy artist, Polly Morgan. My eyes were quite literally glued to the four-page feature about the Londoner who has learned her craft from Scottish taxidermist, George Jamieson.

Comment: Apparently it only took her 45min to learn the basic techniques of taxidermy. Interesting.

Polly Morgan

1st Look:

“Morbid”, “grotesque”, “obscure”, “impious”… These, or similar ones, must have been the first terms that came to my mind during the initial 10 seconds of staring at Polly’s work for the very first time. A dead rat in champagne glass. Heads of chicks squeeling from an old handset… Reading about her collection of dead animals at home as well as keeping them in her own, personal freezer felt rather uncomfortable and made my stomach turn slightly upside down.

2nd Look:

However, I didn’t forget what I had previously read about her motivation and reasons for having taken up taxidermy as an art form:

Even without much knowledge and a rather poor sense of interpreting modern art, in my opinion, “Rest a Little on the Lap of Life”, or the rat in the champagne glass with a miniature chandelier reflects a sorrowful, fragile sense of beauty, peacefulness and finitude.

And, as you can see Polly hasn’t failed to leave her mark on me.