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"Fag Limbo"

 

“I made a series a few years ago called "Delicate creatures from America" it was based on an old book on birds from North America, what I liked about the book was the way the author described the species', in a very poetic manner, not scientific really, and it made them sound as they were describing a person. I recently found a similar case with a book titled "Insects Abroad, a 'popular account of foreign insects, their structure, habitiats, and transformations" published in 1874. It has the same sort of descriptive poetics but this time with far less attractive (to most people) sources... being poetically anthropomorphic with a bluejay is going to come across sounding a lot lovelier then describing a hornet. I was drawn initially just to the title of the book, for the period of time (roughly the same time this book was published) "Dandies" where coming to prominence as these strange new kinds of characters and one descriptive seemed to stick...they where described in terms of insects. Long spider like legs, the movement of a Preying Mantis etc.,. There are a good deal of caricatures showing them as "monstrosities" and giving them the appearance of some otherworldly species completely separate from 'common decent society'. For this exhibition I wanted to bring a group of characters "from Abroad" both culturally and historically to an audience that may find an appreciation for these "monsters". The portraits will take their descriptive titles and inspiration for insect species but the references will not be so literal as to paint an insect with a human head. The illusion will be more subtle and to the trained eye you will find a room full of what I consider beautiful creatures.”

-Hernan Bas

“Insects from Abroad” will be on view at Perrotin, Tokyo, from January 18th - March 11th, 2018. 

  • Photos courtesy of Perrotin

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