However, artist Danielle van Ark's photos of these mounted animals in storage give me pause. I'm not sure how I feel about it, it just feels weird and even awkward. I think it is this awkwardness and the "out of place" feeling that made me take a second, third, and fourth look.
I wonder if these images trigger some primal alarm system... The "something isn't right... RUN!" alarm.
There is a certain je ne sais quoi quality about these photos. They are unnerving, but I'm drawn to it.
I am not an art critic, I just like it.
"The Mounted Life is a series of photographs by Royal Academy of Arts graduate Danielle van Ark. She visited the storage and archives of museums around the world and found animals in surroundings and environments so far from their natural habitats she was struck by the inherent contrast and photographed them.
The series makes the most of the juxtaposition of wildlife and industrial imagery. The images are disturbing, funny, haunting, confrontational and even touching in their composition and subject matter.
Danielle van Ark graduated in 2005 from the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague. Since then she has been living and working in New York and the Netherlands. The artist now wields backstage access to 33 museums across Europe and North America, and she aims to package the entire collection into a book.
You can purchase some of the above prints at Foam Editions. See more of her work here."
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