Suspended Animation 2021 armature: steel, polyethylene, hardware. musculature: scavenged rubber, wire & plastic. rigging: rope, pulleys, hardware. 10’6” x 6’6” x 3’ plus rigging. A life-sized, flexible figure of a collapsed horse, suspended by ropes. It’s heavy- about as heavy as a horse. But if enough people (about 10) work together to pull on the … Read More
Inhalation plastic, packing tape, sticks, tubing, pumps. 5 figures each approx. 36’ x 36’ x 10’ 2020 A small group of animal forms built from scavenged plastic bags are brought to life when air is blown into them. Simple foot pumps (operated by viewers) inflate the figures. When the air flow/support stops, the figures slowly [...]
seam reclaimed leather (boots, bags, clothes) hand stitching, stuffing, metal armature, plastic tubing, pump, water, sheep wool, wood. 10’ x 7’ x 4’ 2010 Water is pumped through the horse via perforated plastic tubing that allows it to seep out wherever it finds a path through the literal ‘skin’ of the animal: and drip [...]
miniature carousel automaton wood, metal, polymer clay, paint, textiles, servo motor. 9” diameter, 12” tall 2003 Originally commissioned to function as an antique automaton in the film Rhinoceros Eyes, since repurposed as a stand-alone object. Figures go round and rise & fall like full sized carousel figures.
Unbecoming Metal, rubber, plastic, motors, mechanics, controllers, each approx. 26” x 26” x 10” 2018 Each animal has one back leg that twitches intermittently, as if in sleep or stress. programmed separately.Commissioned by John McEwen for Thinking Animals at Olga Korper in Toronto. (photos courtesy Olga Korper Gallery) Becoming from veronica verkley on Vimeo.
dogmatic leather purse, metal armature, stuffing, motor 18” x 15” x 6” 2006 An internal eccentric motor causes the animal to shiver or tremble pathetically like some small dogs do.
backwoods alphabestiary Fur, leather, felted wool, taxidermy eyes, quills, wire, moss, twigs, stones, leather, wood, glass, foam, plastic, textiles, paint, dyes, feathers, lights, motors, mechanics, switches. 26 dioramas (A-Z), dimensions variable (average box 24” x 12” x 12”) 2013 Real and imagined northern animals in contemporary sticky situations. Displayed in the spirit of a musty [...]
flinch monofilament, plastic tubing, gear motors, batteries, microprocessors. 5 figures 4’ x 3’ x 15” each, dimensions variable. 2005 Motors hidden inside cause each figure to slowly rotate and twist. Microprocessors vary the speed, intensity and timing of the movements, which read variously as adjusting in sleep, writhing in pain, stretching sensually, squirming, struggling. Each [...]
hare’s breadth reclaimed wire, wood, gear motors, batteries, microprocessors. 3 figures, each. 3’ x 2’ x 6” dimensions variable 1996 Each hare contains a hidden motor that causes it’s chest to rise and fall as if breathing, and a microprocessor that varies the speed, intensity and intervals. These can be interpreted to range variously from [...]
