Has 2020 left you feeling a little hollowed out? Worn thin? Not your best self? Well, fear not, you’re probably in better shape than the freaky but strangely beautiful creatures on show at Curatorial and Co in Acquiesce. Featuring skeletal deer roaming fantastical landscapes, the jaw-dropping (and showing) exhibition is a team-up between sculptor Stuart McLachlan, who has hand-crafted these hand-sized beasts from paper, and the haunting photography of Simon Cardwell.
The happy snapped miniature dioramas depict a world in which we’re long gone (bit on the nose, actually) using moss and other garden-grown bits and pieces and weedy detritus to create spooky backdrops. These ghostly deer may look a little under-nourished, but the dreamlike dystopian world they haunt also posits them as the ultimate survivors. “We want people to read into these stories, find their own personal parallels,” explains the duo. “Even though these animals are skeletons, we don’t see them as deceased, ever. We see them as living entities, reclaiming what was taken by humanity’s self-serving folly.”
Whatever you make of this human-free future vision, there’s no denying the magnificence of this oddly intriguing show, so take a look at the Redfern warehouse gallery before they disappear on November 4.
Love arty alternate realities? Check out the lush line drawings of Real Worlds.
