Beastly
Yvette Watt
13 March - 4 April 2004

The work in Beastly continues a long-standing interest of mine in human-animal relationships and the representation of animals in art and popular culture. Until fairly recently my work tended to use the language of mythology both in appearance and content. However, around 2001 the focus of the work shifted and the approach taken to the production of the work changed. I became interested in the relationship between humans and so-called 'farm' animals, a relationship which I found to be fascinating in its complexity, especially from the point of view of urban western societies. It seemed to me that farm animals inhabited a strange place in our minds; they are seen as both 'nature' and 'culture'. They are both familiar (most people eat them every night) but removed (they are not part of our day-to-day lives and are often farmed in huge sheds out of public view).

I started what is now a massive collection of model animals with the original intention of using them to create theatrical dioramas. At the time it seemed likely that the dioramas themselves would be the artworks, rather than paintings based on the dioramas. Ultimately, however, only a small number of object-based 3D works were realised, one of which – Two Thousand and One - is included in this exhibition.

It occurred to me that the models (as objects) alluded to the objectification of animals we exploit, such as farm animals. I also began to notice how crude some of the cheaper models were. They reminded of images from Medieval bestiaries where the animal is known only from second or third hand sources. It seemed amazing that animals that we apparently know so well, could be so little understood by the model maker as to be almost unrecognisable.

I began a series of works (Model Animals and Dumb Animals) based on photographs of the models. I set up the scenes, lighting and arranging them carefully and then photographed them using a macro lens. I then produced paintings based on these photographs of models of animals. By the time the painting was done, the layered artificiality from the original animal through to the completed painting seemed to allude to the distance in our relationship with these animals, with the scaling down and then up again adding to this abstraction.

I had never worked directly from photographs before, but photographs as the source for the paintings are important for several reasons. Because the models are so small, the macro lens on the camera can see more detail than the naked eye. Also, if I wanted to control the lighting and the arrangements of these small models, I couldn't work from life. Additionally, the photograph adds both another layer to the layered abstraction from the original animal as well as making the point that the animal is being observed. This issue of the animals being observed is important as the work is also concerned with the relationship between depiction and understanding - i.e. What might the way we represent an animal suggest about how we think about this animal?

The Identikit and Identity Parade series of works make reference to methods of identification used by police, which rely on the powers of observation and memory by witnesses for their success. As such, these works further explore the relationship between observation, depiction and understanding. The Identikit series suggests that the strangeness of the model animals depicted is analogous to the both identikit images of criminal suspects and illustrations in Medieval bestiaries, whereby the images produced rely on second-hand description rather than first hand observation. In Identity Parade the emphasis is on recognising the individual within a group. Where a farmer might once have been able to recognise every animal in his herd or flock, modern farming methods mean that the animals are now more likely to be treated as one great mass, rather than a number of distinctly different individuals.

While not concerned specifically with farm animals, the Nine Lives series also places emphasis on the animal as an individual. In tackling the issue of anthropomorphism, these works explore the inter-related issues of sameness and difference between humans and other animals. Presented as a series of monochrome portraits reminiscent of nostalgic photo album snapshots, these paintings are based on photographs collected from a variety of sources for their anthropomorphic qualities. We cannot help but recognise human qualities in the faces of these animals - or is it perhaps that we recognise certain animal qualities in humans?

Finally, this body of work acknowledges the long tradition of animal painting; a tradition that has for some time been relegated to a lowly position within the hierarchy of important subject matter for artists. I hope that in some small and idiosyncratic way the works in this exhibition might help redress this situation.

Yvette Watt, March 2004