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jusqu'au 27 nov | until Nov 27
ethecae.com
Since early childhood, Kate Puxley has been acutely aware of the carnage found along highways and byways. Animals that are dignified and proud in the wild are transformed into gruesome piles of refuse - excess garbage in this industrial age. In her charcoal drawings, Puxley lifts them from their asphalt settings and places them vertically on a white background. Transcending their final resting place, they float to a place of pride once again.
Her drawings not only breathe new life into them, but they implicitly ask viewers to develop a sensitivity and awareness of those other beings with whom we share this planet. In addition, Puxley has extended her love for - and fascination with - roadkill by re-inventing the traditional form of taxidermy. It's her way of exploring the competing roles of the animal as companion and trophy. In both mediums, the human footprint is present, forcing the viewer to question our uneasy relationship with animal life and our current environmental state.
Kate Puxley was born in Edmonton, Alberta and has since lived in Toronto, Ottawa, Italy, and Montreal. She completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts at Concordia University in 2005, and currently works from “The LongHaul’, a studio collective in Montreal. She was one of five Canadian artists short-listed to illustrate The Life of Pi by Yann Martel, was awarded the Editor’s Choice Award for Art Threat Magazine’s Framing Harper Competition, and recently painted Keith Haring’s ‘Pop Shop’ for the National Gallery of Canada. Her work hangs at The Brookstreet Hotel (Kanata, ON), and at The Almonte General Hospital (Almonte, ON). Kate enjoys melting chocolate on her tongue, collecting roadkill, and painting in the dark.
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