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.