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Mad Science or High Art?
Stranger than fiction art draws attention to the dark underworld of cross-species experimentation.
Being curious has its drawbacks; you might not like what you find. What started as a casual morning coffee ended in a trip down the rabbit hole of genetic engineering on humans.
While browsing an issue of Vogue Home for decor inspiration, I saw a colorful minimalist kitchen with a strange sculpture on the counter. I flipped past, then back to take a closer look. Using the zoom function on the magazine reader, I could feel my face twist in horror at the “thing” on the counter. It appeared to be a pile of sagging skin, stringy hair, what looked like eyeballs, and maybe an arm. Juxtaposed against high-end fabrics and glossy bar tops, I froze in disbelief, unable to look away.
I found the artist’s name within the image caption, and with the tremendous hesitation of someone about to step into the circus freak show, I pulled back the tent flap and typed it into Google. The first image to greet me from the artists’ official website was a man wearing, or being attacked by, a massive flesh-toned snake with a distorted human face. I also saw the sculpture from the magazine, among other sideshows within this artist’s gallery. I quickly exited the site, afraid to go further for the sake of what I couldn’t unsee.
