ARTIST BIO/EXHIBITIONS/PRESS
EXHIBITIONS/EVENTS
2017- 'Near Death Experience', The Vestibules City Hall, Bristol
2017- 'Near Death Experience', Space Gallery, Bristol
2017- S.O Amazement', Vintage, Bristol
2016- 'Taxidermy In The Toilet', The Edwardian Cloakroom, Bristol
2016 'Window To My Soul', The Last Tuesday Society, London
2015 -Musical Production- 'Sing For Your Life', The Underbelly, Edinburgh Fringe
2015- Musical Production- 'Sing For Your Life', Vault Festival, London
2013- 'D.I.Y Taxidermy VII: Cat Got Your Tongue', The Book Club, London
2012 -'D.I.Y Taxidermy 6: Throw The Book Away', The Book Club, London
2011- 'D.I.Y Taxidermy' Corsica studios, London
2011- 'D.I.Y TAXIDERMY IIII' Diesel, Red Gallery, London
2011- 'D.I.Y Taxidermy lll: Back From The Dead', Future Gallery, London
2010- 'D.I.Y Taxidermy II: Dicing With Death', Counter Culture, London
2010- 'D.I.Y Taxidermy', The Nunnery, The Bow Arts Trust, London
2010- 'I'm Thinking Of Something Stranger', The Old Asphaltic Building, London
GROUP SHOWS
2017- ' Still Lives', X Gallery, Dublin.
2015- 'Modern Panic', Apiary Studios, London
2015 - 'Beauty is the Beast', Arnhem Museum, Netherlands
2014 - 'Modern Panic', Apiary Studios, London
2014 - 'Museum House Of Death', The Vaults, London
2013 - 'Mad About Art', Rowan Arts Charity, London
2013 - 'Sound Tracks Festival', 100 Years Gallery, London
2012 - 'Art Club', Red Gallery, London
2012 - 'Modern Panic III', Apiary Studios, London
2012 - 'Spare Parts', The Rag Factory, London
2012 - 'Water Under The Moon', Menier Gallery, London
2011-- 'Modern Panic', Gorilla Zoo, The Old Abattoir, London
![]() |
Put something I made on her head!!!! |
It was also seen as barbaric, especially when it was used to display the results of a hunting trip. A stuffed tiger is no longer a good look in a lounge.
But a new generation are reinvigorating the profession. Charlie Tuesday Gates is one of the most high profile. She got into taxidermy through her work as an artist, buying some bits and pieces of dead animals to use in her regular art, before making a name for herself.
Art not decoration
Polly Morgan is the taxidermist with the most artistic credibility, though. She uses roadkill for her elegant and haunting pieces. They’ve been bought by celebrities like Kate Moss, and she had a high-profile show at the fashionable Haunch of Venison Gallery. Artist Banksy has called her “Britain’s hottest bird stuffer”.
Her success has been built on the incongruous settings for her work, and on the way the animals become human (or are anthropomorphised).
Is this a trend or is taxidermy here for good. Morgan suggests that she’s producing art, not taxidermy. “I suppose other people might get sick of it - it is a bit faddish - but hopefully what will stand me in good stead is that I’ve never sold to taxidermy buyers but to art buyers”.
And why have they become so successful? ‘It makes you appreciate animals in a different way,’ Gates suggests. ‘It’s really intimate. You understand life at a whole new level.’
Comments
Post a Comment