As soon as I saw these pictures by Alexander Diaz, I thought they were so smart and funny and I was surprised I hadn’t seen a series like this before. Each image, of fabricated representations of animals attempting to blend in to scenes in the wild, is lush and beautiful and plays with the concept of a controlled and sterilized version of animals and nature.
From the artist’s statement: The notion of controlling nature is central to American thinking. Instead of living with the natural world, we have set ourselves up to contain and sterilize it. This couldn’t be more obvious than in the suburban landscape, where the manicured yard makes up a significant portion of suburbia. The yard is man’s idealized nature that is segregated from the rest of the community and is maintained with pesticides and power tools. It is a place void of its natural inhabitants and left with their representations. The suburban yard is a fabricated oasis, where people can immerse themselves in “nature” without the fear of the unknown.
From “Synthetic Animals”
Visit artist's site: alexdiazphoto.com
Posted October 8th, 2015
