Takeshi Yamada is a rogue taxidermist who lives in works in New York. He visit local beaches and uses the materials found from dead crustaceans to make his creations. He follows the Japanese philosophy just because an animal dies and becomes bones; does not mean it loses life. He mixes different animals together to create mythical creatures and utilizes only raw materials.
I like Yamada's work very much and I also like his enthusiastic and whimsical personality, he is quite humorous while also inspiring to watch. I believe his work relates to mine through the merging of different animals to creating something mythological. I've always found curiousities and beasteries very fascinating and the merging of animals and creatures seems to be a common theme in my work. This probably has a lot lot do with my influences, Patricia piccini, the poem The Jabberwocky by Lewis Carrol as well as the illustrated book by Graeme Base.
Jabberwocky by Base. I read this book many times as a child and I still have it. Looking back you can see the influence.
But Yamada's creations very well crafted and I admire his philosophy about animals not loosing life just because it has died. He has a deep respect for death and sees at as something we shouldn't avoid but try to admire it, to quote him "If you only enjoy the living animals, and if you don't enjoy the dead animals, you're missing half real true nature of life". I think of death in a similar way and I believe this explains my current interest in taxidermy. I'll admit for a while when I saw dead animals I would turn away being a vegetarian and all.. But now find strangely fascinating since researching artists who use taxidermy as a medium and their philosophy behind doing so.
Enter Round 1.
Brewer believes the wasting of animal materials is unethical and disrespectful to mother nature, so she doesn't waste a single part of the animal she works on. Living organisms are an engineering marvel, their interiors equally as magnificent as their exteriors. Brewer creates these pieces to showcase the under-appreciated splendor of internal anatomy as well as a form of complete recycling. She coined the term “esodermy” to describe the product of her philosophy.
She also creates mythlogical creatures like Yamada. It's funny, I see the relationship between rogue taxidermy and Graeme Base's illustrations.
Uni-horned winged rabbit with fox legs from the Haus der Natur (House of Nature), by Enrique Gomez
Capricorn by Sarina Brewer
Winged Cat by Tia Resleure
