Gold Bug 2nd Anniversary Show Features "Death By Cat" Photo Exhibition / Pasadena
Entertainment Desk
October 03, 2009
Original Photography by Bruce Wolf; Beautiful Stories, Shrines and Treasures by Jack Howe, and Hissing Cockroaches, Scorpions and Spiny Walking Sticks from the Natural History Museum, Los Angeles.
OPENING RECEPTION: Friday, October 9, 2009; 5:00 P.M. to 9:00 P.M.
GOLD BUG: 22 East Union Street, Pasadena, CA 91103; 626-744-9963
PASADENA, Calif. - A scandalous collection of photographs of dead animals left on artist Bruce Wolf´s doorstep by his 33 stray cats, modeled on the Victorian fetish of preserving the memory of recently deceased relatives by photographing them in lifelike poses, opens Friday, October 9 at Gold Bug, 22 East Union Street in Pasadena, California.
Called Death by Cat, the exhibition is both a memorial and an examination of the ravaged animals, some comic, some gruesome and some revealing the fear and violence of their final moments. The New York-based artist, who lives in a 200-year old farmhouse in rural Westchester County where his cats prowl on more than 70 acres of woodlands, will be present at this inaugural exhibition, which is free and open to the public.
Death by Cat is inspired by a Victorian book of cadavers photographed on their death beds called Sleeping Beauties. States Wolf, "People were posed to be as lifelike as possible, and even restored when they died through a violent act or accident. Of course the success of these restorations varied considerably, but the images are very powerful."
As Wolf continually disposed of the dead animals brought home by his pets, he remembered Sleeping Beauties and decided to photograph their remains. To connect to the Victorian photographs, he chose to have the images on a black background and did little to "pose" them. No matter what the animal, Wolf tried to maintain a certain elegance and dignity. After more than six years of preparing the photographs, the Gold Bug exhibition is the first time they are being shown to the general public.
Also present will be California assemblage artist Jack Howe, who will elaborate the amazing stories behind his painstaking constructions created from war relics, religious artifacts, figurines, icons, tin-type photographs, antiquarian objects, medallions and other found objects. Filled with meaning, Howe's assemblages narrate fantastic romances, fables, mythologies and invented symbolism.
Howe will talk about the thought processes at work in such assemblages as the monumental Temple of the Domestics, a wooden obelisk covered in ceramic icons, images of domestic animals and mythological creatures; Shrine to Breasts, a pocket shrine made from wooden boxes and filled with protective iconography, and Eye on Her Life, consisting of palmistry references, Catholic saint medallions and a doll with keys hanging from it.
Attendees at the opening may also learn about insect husbandry, as well as put their entomophobia to the test, at the Insect Petting Zoo featuring spiny walking sticks, hissing cockroaches, scorpions, luna moth caterpillars and tarantulas. Insects are courtesy of the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles, and special handlers from the Museum will be on-hand to inform and answer questions about these misunderstood creatures.
Bruce Wolf lives in Westchester County, New York. A combination of outlandish imagination and cool precision make this physics major turned still-life photographer unique in his field. His photography has won him virtually every industry award in the design field, as well as a permanent home in The Library of Congress. His exhibition at Gold Bug inaugurates a new phase for this highly sought-after commercial photographer.
Jack Howe lives in Santa Cruz, California. A self-taught assemblage artist, he attended three years of high school. His works are narrative pieces encoded with antique bits and pieces that tell a story, reflecting his appreciation of decay. Howe has exhibited throughout the US. In Los Angeles, he has shown at Patricia Correia, Don O´Melveny Gallery and La Luz de Jesus since the early 1990s. His work has appeared in major and independent films and is part of numerous corporate and private collections.
Gold Bug, Pasadena's contemporary cabinet of curiosities, is located at 22 East Union Street in Pasadena, California 91103.
GENERAL PUBLIC: Please call 626-744-9963 or visit www.goldbugpasadena.com
OPENING RECEPTION: Friday, October 9, 2009; 5:00 P.M. to 9:00 P.M.
GOLD BUG: 22 East Union Street, Pasadena, CA 91103; 626-744-9963
PASADENA, Calif. - A scandalous collection of photographs of dead animals left on artist Bruce Wolf´s doorstep by his 33 stray cats, modeled on the Victorian fetish of preserving the memory of recently deceased relatives by photographing them in lifelike poses, opens Friday, October 9 at Gold Bug, 22 East Union Street in Pasadena, California.
Called Death by Cat, the exhibition is both a memorial and an examination of the ravaged animals, some comic, some gruesome and some revealing the fear and violence of their final moments. The New York-based artist, who lives in a 200-year old farmhouse in rural Westchester County where his cats prowl on more than 70 acres of woodlands, will be present at this inaugural exhibition, which is free and open to the public.
Death by Cat is inspired by a Victorian book of cadavers photographed on their death beds called Sleeping Beauties. States Wolf, "People were posed to be as lifelike as possible, and even restored when they died through a violent act or accident. Of course the success of these restorations varied considerably, but the images are very powerful."
As Wolf continually disposed of the dead animals brought home by his pets, he remembered Sleeping Beauties and decided to photograph their remains. To connect to the Victorian photographs, he chose to have the images on a black background and did little to "pose" them. No matter what the animal, Wolf tried to maintain a certain elegance and dignity. After more than six years of preparing the photographs, the Gold Bug exhibition is the first time they are being shown to the general public.
Also present will be California assemblage artist Jack Howe, who will elaborate the amazing stories behind his painstaking constructions created from war relics, religious artifacts, figurines, icons, tin-type photographs, antiquarian objects, medallions and other found objects. Filled with meaning, Howe's assemblages narrate fantastic romances, fables, mythologies and invented symbolism.
Howe will talk about the thought processes at work in such assemblages as the monumental Temple of the Domestics, a wooden obelisk covered in ceramic icons, images of domestic animals and mythological creatures; Shrine to Breasts, a pocket shrine made from wooden boxes and filled with protective iconography, and Eye on Her Life, consisting of palmistry references, Catholic saint medallions and a doll with keys hanging from it.
Attendees at the opening may also learn about insect husbandry, as well as put their entomophobia to the test, at the Insect Petting Zoo featuring spiny walking sticks, hissing cockroaches, scorpions, luna moth caterpillars and tarantulas. Insects are courtesy of the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles, and special handlers from the Museum will be on-hand to inform and answer questions about these misunderstood creatures.
Bruce Wolf lives in Westchester County, New York. A combination of outlandish imagination and cool precision make this physics major turned still-life photographer unique in his field. His photography has won him virtually every industry award in the design field, as well as a permanent home in The Library of Congress. His exhibition at Gold Bug inaugurates a new phase for this highly sought-after commercial photographer.
Jack Howe lives in Santa Cruz, California. A self-taught assemblage artist, he attended three years of high school. His works are narrative pieces encoded with antique bits and pieces that tell a story, reflecting his appreciation of decay. Howe has exhibited throughout the US. In Los Angeles, he has shown at Patricia Correia, Don O´Melveny Gallery and La Luz de Jesus since the early 1990s. His work has appeared in major and independent films and is part of numerous corporate and private collections.
Gold Bug, Pasadena's contemporary cabinet of curiosities, is located at 22 East Union Street in Pasadena, California 91103.
GENERAL PUBLIC: Please call 626-744-9963 or visit www.goldbugpasadena.com
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