D.I.Y Taxidermy III: The Future Gallery!

The response from the show was immense. 

Some people loved it and as usual, some people hated it. I know there was some purists out there who were perhaps not expecting what they saw but the clue is in the title. D.I.Y really does mean D.I.Y. There was a good few taxidermists out in the audience who approached me and said they loved it too which was a surprise! I'm always most worried about them because I know I'm not doing it the 'traditional' way and that can be quite insulting for a craftsman/woman. Like a builder might feel about a cowboy.  However I hate being told what to do and how to think and am far happier making it up with more varied and interesting outcomes!

Number 11

(Unamed photos by Nathan Whitham)

For me there is nothing more boring than things turning out as expected...obviously I admire skill and craftsmanship...but we all have to make our own way in the world and I have chosen this one.

The audience was brilliant. I like to think we had a rapport..... Loads of audience participation.

In terms of the performance, I was literally making it up as I went along. I'm better at the freestyle stuff. I find that the more you think about things the more it builds up in your head and you worry. I find if you plan things and then they go wrong it can mess you up even more- so it's best not to plan and to start from nothing and anything that comes out of it is a total bonus! It was just me rattling on about my stories and how I came to do this whilst at the same time taking apart a baby lamb and seagull.

 The seagull was terrible but I blame the fact it wasn't so fresh. The baby lamb (number 11) came out a corker. He was pulled out of a stinking bin by a friend who worked at a lamber for a while. He was beautiful. I cried a little before the show over him. You know you have good friends when they do things like that for you.

There was one comment left by someone that went a little something like : ‘ Tripe-When the ‘artist’ was asked to explain the reasons and inspiration behind the work she was unable to answer apart from that she’s always been interested in dark stuff’

Well that’s true. It was tripe if you had expectations. It was a total balls up- but that’s part of my charm (so I have been told)!

 Well you asked for it.

Where does it come from? I struggled with this for years.  Art is the most personal thing. After uni I worked in secret. I got put off by having to explain myself all the time, and having my guts ripped out by people who could never understand.

That's Not my Dog

I have never been very good at expressing myself verbally. It scares me. Revealing things like that is unnatural- but expressing them through form and with objects is instinctual.

 Why do I make them? Because I must make them. It is so engrained inside me, I am compelled to create- constantly seeking some form of self-expression. I cannot help what comes naturally and the act of creating something out of nothing comes naturally. It is a compulsion, instinct, and intuition. Whatever you want to call it.

Indian Giver

I do not question these things/ my actions/ outcomes because when I do, it distorts my creative process, messes with my mind. It becomes contrived and less honest. The less I think about it the better my outcomes. Fully embracing the unconscious and automatic compulsions, I create based on pure feeling.

Christine Chambers

I have visions. I see things in my head and then I make them. It is only after they are made that I can go back through and over and see what is going on in the depths of my soul. It is dark and surreal and weird and complete nonsense most of the time. These unconscious urges and compulsions have very real and conscience beginnings. Those beginnings I choose to block out because it is a lot easier to detach from than to come to terms with them, and the things I have had to come to terms with are a strange and traumatic childhood.  I didn’t realise this but I was coming to terms with them through my art.

I was escaping through art and it became the only way I could express my feelings and myself- it still is.

The Lambinator

The exhibition is purely about me- it is like a visual biography of how I fell and have felt through my life. The objects I have chosen to surround myself with are a reflection of me and the things that have happened in my past. I cannot escape them and I am compelled to recreate them.

I don’t want that to be the reason but it is. I wish I had something intelligent to say But I am not that person. I am a creative force that needs to get all this bottled up shit out somehow other wise I’ll have a mental breakdown It’s happened before!

If that is not an artist then I don’t know what is? Surly it is expression from a base point level. I am a basic person. I don’t pretend to be something that I am not and I don’t hide behind big words because I can’t. All I want to do is be free to create the things that I feel and if people are interested then that’s great.

 My entire energy and force is poured into being creative- into making things. Though the years I'm sure it will get more refined and I will find better ways to express myself.
Special Thanks to John at The Future Gallery for making this event possible, Nathan Whiteham for photo's and providing the camera and also Alex Milan for photos, as well as my friends and family who put up with this quite disturbing hobbie!

You can see more of the photos here:

http://s4.photobucket.com/albums/y102/nathancallahero/Charlie%20Gates%20Future%20Gallery/?action=view&current=DSC_0021.jpg
Many massive thanks to John at the Future Gallery.
http://www.theoldmilkfloat.co.uk
Love from
Charlie Gates
x