Animal Farm
,Helsinki Contemporary 2016
“I wanted to destroy something beautiful,” is how Persson describes the way he plays with the public’s expectations and questions our romanticized view of wild nature and animals. When looking at the sculpturePanama Papers, it is not clear whether the wild animals wrapped in plastic and rags are imprisoned in some messy situation or are seeking safety in each other. Persson uses antitheses as a strategy in his artistic working process: “something that at first looks brutal, but which after a while starts exuding peace and kindness, and vice versa.”
Romping around the Gallery in Animal Farmare creatures characteristic of Persson’s sculptures – cast-silicone animals made from actual stuffed animals, that the artist gets from auctions, natural- history museums and veterinary schools.Many of us still remember his exhibition with Andreas Eriksson at the Amos Anderson Art Museum in 2012. Now, the life-size elephant standing in the Gallery inHopeand Glorylooks mistreated, with splintered wood where its tusks should be. This sculpture is joined by a counterpart, which has literally been turned inside out.
Copyright © All rights reserved
