05/09 Misfits (penguin/peacock)

Thomas Grünfeld

'Thomas Grünfeld’s anomalous creations are some of the strangest and most surreal of contemporary taxidermy. The creatures from his appropriately titled Misfit series are composed of bits and pieces of animals, all flawlessly sewn together to create entirely new species. The Misfits are reminiscent of early natural histories in which strange and unfamiliar animals were described according to the bits and pieces of well known creatures. For example, the camelopard, now known as the giraffe, was described having the height and neck of a camel, the head of a stag although somewhat smaller, the teeth and feet of an ox, and a leopard’s spots. The armadillo was a pig with a turtle’s shell, and the sloth, part bear, part ape. The platypus displayed complete anatomical confusion, seeming to “possess a three fold nature, that of a fish, a bird, and a quadraped” as Thomas Bewick wrote in 1824. On inspecting the skin of a platypus for the first time in 1802, George Shaw, director of the British Museum, observed that it appeared to have “the beak of a Duck engrafted on the head of a quadruped.” Such a hybrid animal seemed too strange to be true, and Shaw claimed that “it is impossible not to entertain some doubts as to the genuine nature of the animal, and to surmise that there might have been some arts of deception in its structure.” In fact the specimen Shaw examined still bears the marks from his efforts to prise the beak off. As Shaw highlights, it is only a small step from describing animals as if they were composite to actually making a new species.'

From: Genetologic Research, by Maarten Vanden Eynde

Thomas Grünfeld 05/09 Misfits (penguin/peacock) taxidermy for sale
Artist
Thomas Grünfeld
Title
05/09 Misfits (penguin/peacock)
Medium
Taxidermy
Date
2005
Size
60.0 x 25.0 x 30.0 cm: 23 5/8 x 9 13/16 x 11 13/16 in.
Provenance
Galeria OMR, Mexico City
Exhibited
Curiosity: Art & the Pleasures of Knowing, Hayward Touring, Turner Contemporary, Margate, 2013; Curiosity: Art & the Pleasures of Knowing, Hayward Touring, Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery, 2013; Curiosity: Art & the Pleasures of Knowing, Hayward Touring, The Exchange and Newlyn Art Gallery in Cornwall, January-May 2014; Curiosity: Art & the Pleasures of Knowing, Hayward Touring, de Appel, Amsterdam, June-September 2014
Literature
The Guardian Newspaper, 18th May 2013, review of 'Curiosity: Art & the Pleasures of Knowing', p.18 (col. illus.);
Reference
CC12-157
Status
Currently Unavailable

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