Wallpaper. Made from bugs. A lot of bugs. This is the beautifully buggy, ornately patterned work of Jennifer Angus. Crazy iridescents, bright electric colors, delicate wings… yes, she absolutely shows off these little wonders of nature, but she also wants this to be known about her work: “Part of my work is the rehabilitation of the image of insects — that insects are so vitally important. We need insects to pollinate flowers that, in turn, produce fruit. We need insects for decomposition… “ because without insects, we couldn’t exist. She uses her inventory of bugs {none of which are endangered btw}, over and over again in each of her installations. Creepy? Kinda. Mesmerizing? Definitely. If you want to see them up close and personal, the installation in this hot pink room will be opening on November 13, 2015 at the Renwick Gallery in the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
{quote from Fast Company / images from designboom, photographed by rob blunt}
TOTAL WOW moment!! I’d go with mesmerizing and amazing!
I think this is absolutely beautiful. So imaginative.
Oh my dear –
I´m “baff” we say in Germany – open mouthed is it in English.
Thankx for showing!
xoxo
Sabine from Worms in Germany
bloody hell! what would be the equivalent to an artist dropping their microphone? i can’t express how much i love these pieces…anything that reminds me of frida i WILL fall in love with!
Oh no, no, no, NO! bugs are beautiful but not killed for art. ‘They aren’t endangered’ – are you sure and does that make it right? It is NOT OK. Please think again and use the myriad possibilities that let you use their beauty without killing them. This is like a tower of ivory tusks cut from elephants, walrus, narwhals….
Now, I realise that people don’t think of bugs as sentient beings, but in fact they are and have social lives and many many different vibrant communities and perform functions which humans find pretty useful. But that is not the whole point of my problem with this art. We are losing world species hand over fist and it is largely down to us humans being cavalier with our neighbours. Look but don’t kill, take photos, draw, paint, be an artist, create, but don’t destroy other species for art
hi sarah – you’d have to talk to jennifer about this, but i’m quite sure she doesn’t kill them. it sounds like she collected them (already dead) over years. and she reuses them for each project, instead of getting more every time she does an installation. but again, might be an interesting discussion to bring up with her as i’m sure she’s thought about it a lot.
I can’t believe it…how weird is this???To use real insects??? No one could collect so many “already dead” insects….over the years??? I LOVE THE BEAUTY AND The PATTERNs…..BUT I refuse to call this “ART”…well,maybe because it is an Art to be the first to have this idea- in that I agree!
Nevertheless it is very beautiful,and a very poetic idea-and I would be the first To buy this for a wallpaper.
Print this wonderful patterns…take pictures from insects,use Photoshop …whatever – but using real insects is an idea dated back from the 18 century…and I don’t like it AT ALL.
I agree. Not Ok. Doesn’t matter if they are not endangered. They are part if the eco system. Collected already dead…hmmm?
I agree this is wrong, it may be beautiful but… also how do u find dead bugs they will have decomposed what do you go searching on the ground?
Hello there, Jennifer is a Canadian artist, born and raised in Toronto, Ontario. She sources her insects from reputable dealers and is very concerned about conservation. Any insect that is damaged is repaired and reused, if possible.
thanks karen : )
No one protests this because bugs are not cute and cuddly like rabbits – but yes, essentially, its like saying “I got these bunnies from a reputable farm where they are being bred purposefully, so that’s ok”. That doesn’t make sense because, at the end of it, people (whether its Angus herself or not) are deliberately killing and preserving bugs to make an artwork. That’s just not right, “reputable dealers” or not.