Amsterdam artists Afke Golsteijn and Floris Bakker of Idiots have sent us images of their new collection of jewellery and objects featuring stuffed animals.
Each piece features stuffed animals embellished with beads, combined with found objects or completed with blown glass.
More Dezeen stories about taxidermy:
Recent work by Kelly McCallum
Fuck You and the Horse You Rode in On by Kelly McCallum
Gentlemen’s Room 1953 by Snodevormgevers
Jewellery and objects by Kelly McCallum
Butterfly table by based upon
See also: Dezeen’s top ten stories about animals.
Here’s some information about the artists from Art Kitchen Gallery:
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The art of the artist duo Idiots, by Afke Golsteijn and Floris Bakker, is characterized by the use of animal material that is carefully patched up and put into significant positions, combined with rich materials such as embroidery, pearls and gold.
A contemporary touch is given to the classical memento mori concept, questioning the way the world nowadays seems to be determined by nothing else than just marketing.
In a constantly twisting play between fantasy and reality Idiots emphasizes the borderline between life and death.
The striking beauty and the vividness of the animals that figure in the works provoke an immediate attraction, but directly after the first glance one starts wondering what is going on exactly, thrilled by the perspective of transience that is brought forward.
Animals are reborn to remind people of the life they lived, but also to suggest an alternative history, in which they rule the world.
The resemblance to the archetypes known from fables and fairy tales is obvious.
From a similar moral perspective Idiots criticizes the contemporary way of life, although the representation of these famous stories is not the duo’s main aspiration.
If one can speak of a certain objective in Idiots’ art it is to bring people closer to an honest perception of reality pictured through a lens of critical fantasy.
Text by art Kitchen Gallery.
August 17th, 2009 at 12:13 am
this is all getting ridiculous.
August 17th, 2009 at 12:32 am
INTERESTING.
August 17th, 2009 at 12:34 am
“thrilled by the perspective of transience that is brought forward”
riggghhhttt
August 17th, 2009 at 4:23 am
Sick! All taxidermy should be banned. Let’s stuff your grandmother and put her in contorted positions. Respect all dead and living things.
August 17th, 2009 at 5:40 am
woooow, very powerfull, kind of , to much powerfull, but cool
August 17th, 2009 at 5:47 am
wtf?
August 17th, 2009 at 7:06 am
HORRIBLE!
August 17th, 2009 at 9:38 am
disturbing in some way…
August 17th, 2009 at 9:43 am
I don’t like this. As Donn says, this shall all be banned.
August 17th, 2009 at 9:50 am
this is not good. not different. not smart. not shocking. just plain nothing. the name ‘idiots’ is very fitting.
also by giving yourself the name ‘idiots’ it basically lets everyone know that you have nothing serious or substantial to say. idiots dealing with dead animals is a very sad thing.
toodles
August 17th, 2009 at 10:03 am
Animal “rights” activists screaming for a ban in 5, 4, 3, 2 … ahh whatever.
Too late.
Funny stuff. Keep them coming.
August 17th, 2009 at 10:13 am
even if the swan is strangely beautiful and clever , this is too …. sinister , even for me .
August 17th, 2009 at 10:18 am
very very sad and poor design… and very sad to see them still published on dezeen.. are all the editors getting lazy in vacation? This kind of products have nothing to do with design and art. Is just pointless “lets shock the audience with disturbing objects” exercise made by pretending to be artists bored people. just bad stuff
August 17th, 2009 at 11:01 am
Telllsitlikeitis <- maybe you should join these ‘idiots’
toodles
August 17th, 2009 at 11:35 am
I think it’s refreshing. So let’s do it … let’s contemplate.
August 17th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
brilliant use of recycling. blaaaahhhh too all of those who poo-poo the work.
August 17th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
Oh no. Come on Dezeen, there’s so much shitty art out there, please keep it out of here.
August 17th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
“Banned”?? Good lord. I should hope not. That being said, I find most of these pieces pretty unconvincing. Not a big fan of shock art tho’, me.
August 17th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
If we believe in democracy, we must tolerate others opinions, even if it is against our view point…
Marcel Duchamp wasn’t better with its fountain /urinal object.
Anyway, even if I don’t like at all this “Art…” who cares!
Francois Beydoun
August 17th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
IDIOTS
August 17th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
very average use of powerful material and subject matter.
August 17th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
Nothing wrong with taxidermy- see also Polly Morgans beautiful work
August 17th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
Startling and difficult but worthwhile. Not less interesting than Hirst in any case…
August 17th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
‘Not less interesting than Hirst’
Well that shows a serious lack of interest in either I’d say…
August 17th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
I think it is just not well done. Seen projects with the same idea built more carefully and in a much better way.
August 17th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
I don’t find any of this shocking or disgusting, but I am searching for a little meaning.. While most of these pieces don’t seem too challenging as Art, the texture of the “Tweeter” Headphones and the whimsy of Duck stole allude to things outside themselves (imagine wearing those headphones, that visual projection of the physical sensation and reality of the birds’ sound–or the traditional fox stole with the clip made from the jaws of the animal, and how it comically changes with the head of a duck… reminds me of Bjork’s costume a few years ago), and I like all of them aesthetically. Unfortunately, when placed together with a shoe stepping on a pigeon’s head, none of them make any sense.
August 17th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
I think the group they belong has the right name
August 18th, 2009 at 12:42 am
Have I seen it before?
http://www.dezeen.com/2009/07/15/recent-work-by-kelly-mccallum/
http://www.kellymccallum.com/
August 18th, 2009 at 9:30 am
have I seen this before too??!!!
http://juliadeville.com/
August 18th, 2009 at 9:53 am
i think these people did a cut in half lion too. it is by far one of the most shameful things i have seen. really really sad.
August 18th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
hmmm…I feel like the concept could have been brought across in a far less cruel way. The point was lost on me after the head phones….
August 18th, 2009 at 7:47 pm
you should see http://www.tinkebell.com (scrol down a bit)
…….
August 19th, 2009 at 9:17 am
I wonder, looking back at the ’00s, if we will regard “Look at Me!” as the legacy of this period.
Taxidermy as a medium has become a veritable snowclone in recent years. This collection of self-satisfied work does nothing to sway my opinion.
August 19th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
it is interesting but it is painful for me to see this animals like this!
August 20th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
if the main aim was being provocative, that aim is not much accomplished. it’s a pack of deja-vus with some make up for glueing together the whole collection. the more provocative things want to be, the less they get to shock anyone.
August 24th, 2009 at 7:13 pm
interesting but sick…
August 27th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Idiots, indeed.
December 3rd, 2009 at 12:07 am
taxidermy isn’t about killing animals for ‘art’ but working with animals that died of natural causes or from roadkill. animals that would be otherwise thrown into the bin… I guess most of you people eat meat or wear leather, maybe you should think about that for some minutes.. taxidermy is one of the oldest crafts and it is another way to celebrate life and rescpect death and remind us that everything is transient. you people shouldn’t judge so quickly. inform yourself before making lame comments, think outside your little boxes… I don’t like everything what idiots do, but it’s too easy to rate it down because you simply didn’t understand or it’s nto your taste, but taste hasn’t something to do with good or bad
December 15th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
Their work is like Angela Singers only they are not activists using old taxidermy http://www.angelasinger.com
December 20th, 2009 at 8:35 pm
amazing. creative, avant guarde.