• *
  • art/actions
    • performance/interventions
    • design
    • installation
    • sculpture / objects
    • photography
  • programs
  • news
    • blog
  • about
    • contact
LESLIE DREYER

Banksy’s rare breeds, pet supplies & mechanically retrieved meat

10/19/2008

0 Comments

 
Picture
Banksy, the prolific, British, graffiti-artist-prankster declares, “New Yorkers don’t care about art, they care about pets. So I’m exhibiting them instead.” Last week this master of satire opened The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City to display peculiar breeds and brands of creatures in humorous, yet disturbing, scenarios. The precise animatronics of these mutants are extending the gazes of onlookers and raising more than an eyebrow or two.

The show is visible to the public both day and night through the store front windows. You can see McNuggets dipping themselves in (or sipping) barbecue sauce, a rabbit putting on makeup, baby cctv cameras staring lovingly at a larger “mother” camera, and a wildcat (convincingly folded leopard print coat) sleeping and curling it’s tail. Inside, a monkey obsessively watches itself on National Geographic TV, a haggard Tweety Bird sadly swings in its cage, breaded fish sticks swim around in their bowls, a bologna sausage wiggles in the sand, and hot dogs bask under heat lamps or fornicate in tanks fitted with French’s mustard feeding bottles.

As this is the first work he’s made of this nature, Banksy explains, “I wanted to make art that questioned our relationship with animals and the ethics and sustainability of factory farming, but it ended up as chicken nuggets singing. I took all the money I made exploiting an animal in my last show and used it to fund a new show about the exploitation of animals. If it’s art and you can see it from the street, I guess it could still be considered street art.”

The quiet opening that was a wonder to random passersby has since drawn fans from all over the city. To see it for yourself, visit 89 Seventh Ave. South in NYC by Halloween or check out videos here.

(written for and originally published on artthreat.net)
0 Comments

    Categories

    All
    Alternative Media
    Animation
    Creative Action
    Creative Reuse
    Film/Video
    Graffiti
    Political Art
    Social Games
    Social/Political Theater
    Subvertising
    Tactical Media

    Archives

    April 2012
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2009
    October 2008
    May 2008
    February 2008
    January 2008
    December 2007
    November 2007

    RSS Feed