Joseph Wheelwright
Seated Angel #1 (detail), 1987, elk, cow, and boar bones, cat upper mandible, dental acrylic, 17" x 22" x 20"
The terror in bones is probably the death in them, but I was always drawn to bones and teeth for their wonderful shapes, their structural efficiency, and their specificity. It seems ironic that we hide underground the one substance of our body which is elegant and relatively permanent, the shiny ivory in us. But bringing bones to life is monstrous, and during the several years I built and carved bones I smelled like meat and was dizzy from dental acrylic. Almost nobody bought them. At the end I used up my bone collection on the two larger works shown here.
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