Life Blood is the first solo show in France of Irish artist Claire Morgan. The nine large-scale sculptures and thirteen works on paper are all unique but consistently fascinating. The Great Exposition caught up with Claire at the opening.
Mixing invisible threads with lead, plastic, dead insects and taxidermy, the sculptures hover at eye-level as if defying gravity. The use of insects, butterflies and animals are reminiscent of still life – more appropriately nature morte (dead nature) in French – compositions from the golden age of Dutch painting. The interest in dead specimens also conjures up images of 19th century natural history collections and curiosity cabinets.
However, Morgan doesn’t include these amongst her influences, citing nature as her main influence, followed by minimalist art. The graceful sculptures embrace the geometric shapes of minimalism but have none of the blocky solidity. Instead the masses are constructed from thousands of delicate, painstakingly assembled elements: fragments of plastic carrier bags, dead flies, fruit flies (or drospohila) and dandelion seeds.
Craft is an important part of the creative process. Everything – including taxidermy – is done by hand, although Morgan admits that she might end up regretting the evolution of her work into something so laborious, as the hand-threading of each piece can take weeks. “The process of making it, spending time with it allows me to form a bond with my work”, she says, watching anxiously as curious visitors wander perilously close to the delicate threads suspending the structures.
The contrast between the natural elements and their unusual sculptural staging are at the heart of Morgan’s practice. “I become absorbed in trying to organise and control the materials” Morgan says, and despite the fragile and unstable nature of the sculptures, she succeeds, as if capturing a transient moment and fixing it exactly how she wants it to be seen. The effect is poignant, teetering the fine line between the beauty and brutality of nature.
The works on paper are similarly violent and exquisite. They capture the minutiae of the frail animals on paper stained from the taxidermy, contrasting the careful drawings with the gore of the taxidermy process.
Life Blood is on at Galerie Karsten Greve until 25/02/10
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