Sarina Brewer is a Minneapolis-based American artist known for her avant-gardetaxidermysculpture and her role in the popularization of taxidermy-related contemporary art.[1] Brewer is one of the individuals responsible for the formation of the genre of Rogue Taxidermy,[2][3]
a variety of mixed mediaart.[3][4] A primary directive throughout her career has been the use of ethically procured animal materials.[5]
Early life
Brewer was born in 1970.[6] Brewer's parents, also artists, raised her in an environment centered around wildlife and family pets. Her art arose from an interest in biology and nature.[7]
She studied at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD), earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1993.[8] During her formative years at MCAD, she worked primarily with found objects, most of which were mummified animal remains.[2] Her early works were shrines to the animals they incorporated[5] and often involved the gold leafing of animal mummies,[9] a technique still utilized in her current body of work.[2] Her work with the remains of animals evolved into taxidermy over the years,[10] and she is self-taught in this realm.[7] She states her work is an extension of her childhood belief in reincarnation and that her taxidermy sculptures serve as symbolic bodies for transmigrating animal spirits.[11][12][13] She describes the art she has created throughout her career as an hommage to the animals she uses.[9] Brewer is a conservationist and former wildlife rehabilitator[9] who volunteered in the biology department at the Science Museum of Minnesota for over a decade.[2]
Career
To form her own movement and break off from conventional taxidermy and its traditions, Brewer and two colleagues coined the term Rogue Taxidermy.[14] In 2004, Brewer and two fellow Minneapolis artists established The Minnesota Association of Rogue Taxidermists (MART),[15][16] an international collective of artists who use taxidermy-related materials (both organic and synthetic)[4] as the common thread to unite their respective styles of mixed-media sculpture.[17] The work of Brewer and the other founders of MART dramatically changed the way taxidermy materials are used.[1] The pioneering[18] work of Brewer and her fellow co-founders gained worldwide attention[18][11] in 2005 after they appeared on the front page of the New York Times art section[19] following their inaugural gallery exhibition. The article featured Brewer's taxidermy sculpture titled Goth Griffin.[17] Positive response from other artists following the exhibition led to the formation of the collective.[20] Public interest in the genre gave rise to an art movement.[1][11][20] Taxidermy art (a term used interchangeably with Rogue Taxidermy)[11] is a trend that started in Minnesota with the work of Brewer and fellow MART co-founders[1][11] and now has an international following.[2][11] An influx of people working within the genre has led to a taxidermy revival in recent years.[21]
Brewer maintains an ethical stance against traditional taxidermy culture.[14] She does not kill animals for the purpose of creating art[22][12] and she is noted as a trendsetter in this arena.[23][24] Her work is made from recycled animal components[25] salvaged from ethical sources such as natural deaths and road kill.[12][26][27] She brought this policy with her when she helped construct MART. Brewer and her fellow co-founders incorporated this precept into the group's ethics charter, to which members of the collective were required to adhere. MART's "no-harm-no-waste" approach was one of the genre's founding elements;[28][29] further, the use of ethically sourced materials has since become a tenet associated with the art movement,[28] and broadened the art form to appeal to people who previously opposed taxidermy for moral reasons.[28]
Brewer is regarded as an influential figure within the genre[24][23] which has been noted for being largely female-driven,[30][3] and she is acknowledged for playing a role in the shaping of it aesthetically as well as ethically.[24][23] She has exhibited across the United States and has received international recognition.[24][22] Her work has been included in Midwestern, West Coast, East Coast, and European venues.[12] Among notable venues are the Los Angeles Art Show[31] and The Natural History Museum of Geneva.[9]
^ abGyldenstrom, Freja (17 June 2017). "Morality and Taxidermy in Art". www.culturised.co.uk. Culturized Co. Archived from the original on 3 October 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^Tremonti, Anna Maria (25 October 2017). "Dead Animals into Art". www.cbc.ca. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 26 October 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^David Carrier; Joachim Pissarro (14 October 2013). Wild Art. Phaidon Press. p. 138. ISBN978-0-7148-6567-6. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
^Binnie, Ronald (2015). "Vile Bodies". Plastik Art & Science Journal (4). ISSN2101-0323. Archived from the original on 1 August 2018. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
^Topcik, Joel (14 January 2005). "Still Life With Road Kill". St. Petersburg Times. St. Petersburg, Florida: The Times Publishing Company. p. E1, E3 – via Newspapers.com.