May, 2009 Exhibit

Barbara Spadaro:
From Fact to Fables
a modern bestiary

Artist Statement

I believe we have a natural, irrepressible need to go from facts to fables. I think that’s why, from ancient times, we’ve spun tales about animals to tell ourselves about the world. From the pages of a medieval bestiary to today’s toys, products and media images, representations of animals are continually being recast and sanitized. We picture the warm fuzziness of a plush toy or the compromised boundaries of a centaur as ways of stating our both kinship with and our separateness from animals.

Animals reconstructed in this way are safe. No matter how scary or powerful the beast, when it is packaged within the pages of a book or shrink-wrapped on a store shelf, it becomes a gentle teacher, imaginary and secure. We use these images and objects to construct fables, cautionary tales to distance ourselves from danger and to absolve ourselves of the dirt, the guilt, and the mess of dealing with the real thing. Thus, we maintain both our mastery and our innocence.

This installation points out the malleable boundaries between humans and animals, and juxtaposes the realities of wild ecosystems, farming, and our need for nutrition with the tales we tell ourselves.

Barbara Spadaro
Highwire Gallery
May 2009