Oh, bunnies! Wait...The cross-section of soil was my first clue to the wonderful abnormalities in this Josh Keyes illustration. The other pieces are more overtly mashed-up, which makes me suspect that this might have been the first in series. There's one of a lone wolf pacing a floating patch of grass, also containing a Converse All-Star sneaker and a haphazard group of traffic signs. There's also a pair of hyenas inspecting a graffiti-d mailbox. And then there are a few manicured, multi-faceted but supposedly "natural" and self-sustaining (?) stand-alone environments. I love how these are condensed versions of a "big picture" idea.
I stumbled over these at Fecal Face -- a great website, well-designed and frequently updated with lots of cool new stuff. From the Josh Keyes interview:
What is the purpose of the islands in your work?
I don't think of them as islands, though they read that way. The diagrammatic quality of my work refers to the human gaze, similar to the idea of the male gaze, it sees and takes in only what it wants to see or desires to see. The model I am using is the scientific gaze or perception. Things seen in quantity separate from the whole. A laboratory where animals, ecosystems, humans, are reduced to objects. It is a minimal playing field and something that stems from my interest in Samuel Becketts plays like Waiting for Godot, and the theater of the absurd. Though I am tempted at times to fill the entire space, I find that the minimal stage set helps to focus the attention on the narrative. I also use the minimal and segmented landscapes to bring clarity to a very complex word of events. It is a way of quieting down information. I would like to create some sculptures at some point. I have a strong fascination with the dioramas in natural history museums, they are magnificent installations.
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