MAD 'Dead or Alive' Exhibition

Levi Van Veluw

I came across this 'Green Man' on the cover of this month's Crafts Council Magazine. It is one of the works to be featured in the upcoming show 'Dead or Alive', at the Museum of Art and Design, New York, (April 27th- October 24th). The group show will feature the work of over 30 Artists who create artwork using organic materials including insects, feathers, shells, bones, plant matter and fur.

These works are of particular interest to me:

Nick Cave creates bold sculptural costumes using hair, leaves, twigs and other natural materials. He calls these sculptures 'Soundsuits' and they are brought to life when worn, creating various sounds as the performer moves; a meditation on the power of ritual and ceremony.

Levi Van Veluw is a Dutch Performance Artist who applies layers of natural materials onto the human body in self portrait photographs and films. Van Veluw adheres miniature landscapes to his own face, which takes on the form of the contours of grass, hills and clusters of trees. By placing the human form at the core of his work he subverts the traditional concept of Landscape.

Jennifer Angus creates subversive site-specific architectural interventions which mimic traditional wallpapers and textiles. However the surfaces she constructs are made from thousands of dried insects, pinned directly to the wall, blurring the distinction between decoration and expression and comfort and disturbance.