Animales bebiendo del mismo estanque. Cai Guo-Qiang.

Hace tiempo, a través de Taxidermy, descubrimos los impactantes trabajos de Cai Guo-Quiang entre otros ejemplos de obras de arte que recurrían a reproducciones hiperrealistas de animales o, directamente, a la taxidermia, esa peculiar disciplina a caballo entre la escultura y la conservación de ejemplares zoológicos. Ya entonces confesábamos nuestro rechazo (a la vez que nuestra fascinación) por este tipo de trabajos por el hecho de reducir a los animales a prototipos u holotipos de posibilidades anatómicas. También confesábamos nuestra admiración por la conmovedora belleza de algunas de estas obras que "descosifican" el animal "cosificado". Es difícil encontrar mejor ejemplo para ilustrar el perturbador efecto de esta forma de expresión artística que esta obra de Cai Guo-Quiang que rescatamos, una vez más, de los impagables archivos de COLOSSAL.

 

extracto de colossal

A Herd of 99 Lifelike Animals Drink From a Pool at QAGOMANovember 26, 2013

Heritage, 2013. 99 life-sized replicas of animals, water, sand, drip mechanism. Dimensions variable. Photograph: Natasha Harth, Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art.

Heritage, 2013. 99 life-sized replicas of animals, water, sand, drip mechanism. Dimensions variable. Photograph: Natasha Harth, Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art.

Heritage, 2013. 99 life-sized replicas of animals, water, sand, drip mechanism. Dimensions variable. Photograph: Natasha Harth, Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art.

Heritage, 2013. 99 life-sized replicas of animals, water, sand, drip mechanism. Dimensions variable. Photograph: Natasha Harth, Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art.

Heritage, 2013. 99 life-sized replicas of animals, water, sand, drip mechanism. Dimensions variable. Photograph: Mark Sherwood, Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art.

Head On, 2006. 99 life-sized replicas of wolves and glass wall. Wolves: gauze, resin, and hide. Dimensions variable. Photograph: Natasha Harth, Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art.

Head On, 2006. 99 life-sized replicas of wolves and glass wall. Wolves: gauze, resin, and hide. Dimensions variable. Photograph: Natasha Harth, Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art.

Head On, 2006. 99 life-sized replicas of wolves and glass wall. Wolves: gauze, resin, and hide. Dimensions variable. Photograph: Natasha Harth, Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art.

Head On, 2006. 99 life-sized replicas of wolves and glass wall. Wolves: gauze, resin, and hide. Dimensions variable. Photograph: Natasha Harth, Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art.

Artist Cai Guo-Qiang sculpting an animal for Heritage. Photograph: Cai Canhuang.

Artist Cai Guo-Qiang sculpting an animal for Heritage. Photograph: Cai Canhuang.

Inspired by a trip to Stradbroke Island in Australia back in 2011, artist Cai Guo-Qiang began work on his newest large-scale installation, Heritage, a flock of 99 life-size replicas of wild animals including giraffes, pandas, lions, tigers, and kangaroos drinking from a pool of blue water. The piece is included along with several additional artworks as part of his first solo exhibition in Australia, Falling Back to Earth, at Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art in South Brisbane.
Also included in the exhibition is Guo-Qiang’s famous airborne cascade of 99 wolves titled Head On, where the animals seem to launch themselves into the air only to crash into a large glass wall and begin the cycle again. You can see more behind-the-scenes photos in the video above and on the artists blog. Falling Back to Earth runs through May 11, 2014.