© Andrew Bruce
Medium - 1 available
Edition of 5
£495.00
51 x 40.5 cm paper size
38.50 x 30.50 cm image size
NB: This is a hand print on C-type Kodak ultra endura paper. It comes with a certificate signed by the artist and is the first print from the edition. The print is produced with a white border around the photograph to allow for framing. We also have included some cotton gloves to protect the print during handling.
As a cyclist travelling to and from college Andrew Bruce was aware of the amount of dead animals and birds on the road. As the cars sped past him he began to wonder how easy it would be for him to meet the same fate.
Andrew became inspired by the tragedy of their sudden death and haunted by the imagined sound of metal against flesh and bone; seeing the road-kill as a potent symbol of humanity's clash with nature, both literally and figuratively. His response can be seen in his series Nature Morte, Vanitas and Tender.
Nature Morte was his first work in which he photographed dead animals in the landscape as he found them, producing a document of their death. The use of a 10x8 camera and lights produces a visceral quality and the impact of the damage to their bodies is palpable. Harsh in its subject matter, the beauty of the chiaroscuro lighting on the dead animal creates a visual potency.
For his later work Andrew moved to a more staged and performance based approach. Gathering the dead animals as he found them, Andrew wrapped them up in his backpack and cycled home; keeping them in a freezer until he was ready to photograph them. In preparation for the photography he would carefully clean off the mud and dried blood to reinstate a beauty to the dead body.
Not interested in simply recording the reality of their death, Andrew brought himself into the photograph for the series Tender. Holding each creature against his naked torso Andrew has made the idea of their deaths more poetic and less coldly brutal.
As Andrew says "we barely notice the thud...and it is the thud that is my starting point."
Watch the artist video and read more information here.
1000 thanks to Andrew for his generosity, and of course to our partners Bridget and Michael from Troika Editions.
