Deborah Simon – Packer Schopf Gallery
January 9th – February 14th, 2009

Just like fixed gear bicycles and plaid shirts, taxidermy has quickly become a trend among young indie types.  While “dive” bars adorned with cute little foxes and owls are starting to get played out, I have to be honest and say that I love taxidermy. Simon’s sculptures, which she describes as walking the line between taxidermy, toy, and sculpture, are fabrications and not actual taxidermy – still, my love of stuffed little critters was what first piqued my interest in Deborah Simon’s show at Packer Schopf Gallery.

Far from simple kitsch objects, Simon’s sculptures of Indian Flying Foxes (creatures that resemble some sort of hybrid fox/bat beast) explore the way humans perceive and interact with the natural world, specifically the animal kingdom.  These particular pieces were inspired by a chance encounter with a group of Flying Foxes in Calcutta, and are an attempt to capture the behaviors of these unusual creatures in fur, rubber, and other media.  Though each sculpture is sold individually (at a temptingly affordable price, no less), Simon’s desired effect is best experienced when they are viewed as a group.  The sculptures are installed in the smaller exhibition area dubbed “The Lab,” which is a perfect cavelike setting for Simon’s works.  After descending a wooden staircase, and winding my way to the very back of the space, I came upon a small colony of bat like creatures perching on tiny clear trapezes from the ceiling.

The installation of the Flying Foxes is a perfect exemplar of Deborah Simon’s artistic intent.  Having worked in zoos and veterinary clinics, the artist has spent years observing animal behavior, humans’ interactions with animals, and the ways animals are viewed in society.  Simon’s role at the Bronx zoo entailed creating “natural” environments for animal habitats.  She did everything from making fake trees to designing entire enclosures for our furry little friends.  In creating fake landscapes, Deborah Simon essentially turned white boxes into facsimiles of “nature.”   Because animals in captivity exist in a copy of their real environment, their behaviors adapt into a copied version of their natural behavior.  This is the behavior that human zoo patrons view as natural animal behavior.

Roost does exactly the opposite.  In attempting to capture the behaviors and attributes of the Indian Flying Foxes as she observed them in their natural setting, Simon makes sure that, though the animals themselves are fabricated, their characteristics are as natural as possible.  She then displays them in a setting devoid of any pretense of being a part of nature, leaving the “white cube” untouched.  What results is a group of fake animals with natural mannerisms living in an unaltered environment, as opposed to real animals with adapted behaviors in a fabricated atmosphere.  Because you have to walk below the creatures nesting in the rafters, it’s easy to imagine that maybe they somehow snuck in and started infesting the gallery.  I can only imagine what they look like at night.

I went into Roost intrigued by the bizarre looking animal sculptures, and pretty sure that I would find them merely an entertaining novelty, or perhaps cute in an odd way.  Maybe I’d even be tempted to take one home with me and perch it in a perfectly chosen corner of my home, just waiting for a friend to spy it and gasp in surprise.  I have a very active imagination.  Even my initial reaction to the sculptures proves Simon’s point that most people see animals as being at our disposal, either for food, labor, or in this case for our entertainment and viewing pleasure.  However, I got more than I had expected and I really appreciated seeing some art that not only made me smile, but had a concept behind it that made sense without seeming pretentious or overreaching.

by Rachel M. Hewitt