Artists: Mark Dion, Marc Swanson

I looked up several artists after Melissa's suggestion, and was actually really excited by what I found and the way they work. I'm kind of completely thrilled by Marc Swanson and his use of glitter and taxidermy. And I didn't realize how much I love Mark Dion until just now.

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Mark Dion

Mark Dion website.
And here is the Art 21: Mark Dion interview page.

And also: OH MY GOODNESS. I need to listen to this -- it's an AM radio thing where students at . . . Portland State interview visiting artists. Art Talk AM on the Radio: Mark Dion, and others.

Polar Bear and Toucans

Concrete Jungle (the birds)

The Tar Museum (mammal)

"Mark Dion questions the authoritative role of the scientific voice in contemporary society" wikipedia says.

Here is a brief criticism of his work that I should read: Artcrticial.com. It's about this installation, which is so totally appropriate to what I am thinking about at the moment regarding a living room with Sesame Street animals on it. Hmmm.

And how about this one:

Lab Bench, 2006

The blog description of this piece says "Mark Dion conducts large-scale projects in which he questions the role of specialists—from archaeologists to ethnologists, from historians to art curators. He questions the classification systems placed on objects by professionals and institutions and invites viewers of his work to be an active audience. Lab Bench is Mark Dion’s perfect imitation or ‘clone’ of the biotechnology laboratory Hubrecht in Utrecht." (http://www.genetologisch-onderzoek.nl/index.php/532/biologie/)

After reading about some of his exhibitions, I just realized that he actually performs "experiments" or sort of . . . actually DOES something to make these things. Like, for instance, doing an archaeological dig of a landfill and categorizing and studying the straws and plastic things he found. Or this show (Systema Metropolis) he put together for Carl Linneaus (which you can read some about here) was actually set up in 4 "experiments" that he did with the staff of this museum that involved them going out and finding and cataloging insects or doing DNA analysis on sites in London near the museum. There is a good description of the experiments here. I really like this idea of structuring an exhibition this way, creating all these spaces and environments. Ahh! I love this guy. :)

And one more thing. I thought this site seemed really interesting and like a good set of ideas I should read about. It's about a show called A Duck for Mr. Darwin.

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Marc Swanson

Marc Swanson webpage.

Ok, I think it goes without saying that I wish I had made all of these things.

Fits and Starts, 2005

Killing Moon II

He's got a lot of these crystal-covered taxidermy heads.

And then actually kind of a whole series of these strange neanderthal-like figures doing ethereal things. Lovely.

Boy in Tree, glass, enamel, and glitter 24 x 36

And of course, I wish this was my idea so badly :) Because I love that particular glitter color and it is such the perfect solution to have the sky be that glitter and silouhettes be made of black . . . darn you Marc Swanson for thinking of everything before I could. :)

Mark Swanson - from his website: "The artist grew up the son of an ex-Marine and avid hunter in small-town New England. He then moved to San Francisco in the early 1990s and became involved in the city’s gay counterculture and club scene. He did not feel totally at home in either place, and he began making his first mature work-the crystal covered deer head sculptures for which he is perhaps best known-as a way to explore, both physically and spiritually, the duality of masculine identities he was experiencing. "