Betty Hirst of New York wins the freak-out award for her sculptures made from raw meat. The actual meat was on view at the June 21 opening, but except for a book piece now infested with maggots, visitors must settle for photos. Most striking is Baby, which resembles a life-size baby skinned — and feels like murder.
New Yorker Tamara Kostianovsky’s stuffed animals depicting slaughtered cattle come as a relief. Malice depicts the pink torso of a skinned, gutted cow, with its head and limbs chopped off. Still, it seems cozy, cuddly. Maybe because her sculptures are made of clothing, they get you thinking of bodies as suits we wear. You find yourself pondering that blurry place — blurry because we won’t quite let ourselves look at it — where living bodies become meat. And you wonder about the nature of your soul.
Related:
The whiff of art, Slideshow: Heide Hatry at Pierre Menard Gallery, Interview and photos: Gerard Malanga, More 
- The whiff of art
The stench came from the rotting corpse — well, it appeared to be a corpse — of a woman who'd been laid out on a metal table like an exhumed murder victim awaiting a coroner's examination.
- Slideshow: Heide Hatry at Pierre Menard Gallery
Pig skin portraits
- Interview and photos: Gerard Malanga
In Walt Whitman’s notebook for the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass , he writes, “Every soul has its own individual voice.” That notion rang true for photographer/poet/filmmaker Gerard Malanga as he put together “Souls,” an exhibit of 100 portraits spanning five decades.
- Finding art in the oil
Heide Hatry might not be the first person you'd think of to come out swinging in favor of all the pelicans and turtles screwed by British Petroleum's ongoing sliming of the Gulf of Mexico.
- Cattle call
Does anyone else find it ironic that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is treating human beings like pieces of meat?
- PETA’s Dan Mathews says all animals are equal
With its boldest gambit yet — offering $1 million to the person who can create “commercially viable” fake meat — PETA continues to push boundaries in its fight for animal rights.
- Fresh meat
Thanks for the interesting article, but I disagree with your stance on the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) contest.
- Slideshow: A Politic at Gallery XIV
- Time out of mind
Luisa Rabbia created a slow-moving video work that offers a kind of travelogue of her own journey through Isabella Stewart Gardner's historic scrapbooks.
- More sex, more Lincoln
The subject of Lincoln is like catnip to publishers (and readers), but the only things missing from our winter list are actual cat books.
- Of pols and pop culture
The Tote Board’s preliminaries are almost over, meaning next week we begin to set the odds.
- Less
Topics:
Museum And Gallery
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, Barack Obama, U.S. Government, Illinois State Senate, gallery XIV, U.S. Congressional News, Special Interest Groups, U.S. Senate, Abraham Lincoln, PETA, Animal Rights, Less
