For most adults, Hallowe’en is a night often associated with bad costumes, even worse decisions and bad hangovers. This year Veuve Clicquot broke the mould with their first annual Veuve Clicquot Widow Series “A Beautiful Darkness”, a night of art, fashion, film and of course champagne. The evening payed homage to the extraordinary Madame Clicquot who, after being widowed at 27, took over her husband’s wine business and revolutionised champagne production. The event took place in the abandoned site The College, formerly home to Central Saint Martins, and featured works by Lady Amanda Harlech, fashion designer Gareth Pugh and taxidermist and artist Rose Robson. Robson’s sculptures feature different bird skins in large swarms and subvert the traditional notions of taxidermy. For the Veuve Clicquot Widow Series, Robson performed a live taxidermy session surrounded by her work. Schön! caught up with Rose Robson to talk about her work and the upcoming collaboration with Veuve Cliquot.
The materials used in your work are instantly recognisable as being the skins of birds, yet the pieces themselves are very abstract, what are your greatest artistic influences?
I am constantly inspired by other artist’s work that isn’t directly relevant to my practice. I find going to exhibitions to be the greatest source of inspiration and I always leave itching to make new work. Whenever I feel uninspired I go back through my favourite art books and feel inspired again. Louise Bourgeois and Hans Bellmer are my favourites. I also read a lot of feminist theory which feeds into my thinking behind pieces.
In the past you have made videos of your taxidermy process and now you are doing a live taxidermy for The Veuve Clicquot Widow Series, how important is it for you that people to understand the whole process of your work?
The process is a very important part of my practice, the visceral intense reality is a very powerful thing and instead of hiding this aspect of my practice I am harnessing it and exploring it through performance and photography.
What can expect from your live taxidermy at the The Veuve Clicquot Widow Series?
For ‘A Beautiful Darkness’ I have been assigned a room in the old St Martins building which is quite in keeping with my own studio space, very minimal and clinical. I will be making work at my desk throughout the event, surrounded by my own sculptures. I like the idea of people weaving in and out of the sculptures and watching me work. There will definitely be a performative element to the piece.
Death is a constant theme within your work and within the practice of taxidermy as a whole, what is your relationship with death as a theme?
I am constantly inspired by sex and death as a theme which are the most loaded subjects and the most interesting to work with.
Taxidermy is a craft yet your work is more art leaning, where do you draw the line between craft and art in your work?
I wouldn’t call myself a taxidermist, I know how to skin and preserve birds so I can manipulate them and create other forms. It is important to see my hand in the making, unlike the aim of a taxidermist which is to hide the authorship of their work to preclude the fact that you are actually dealing with an animal.
Words / Caitlin Donaldson
Discover the latest issue of Schön!.
Now available in print, as an ebook, online and on any mobile device.