The Great Hunter at Home, 1993

Basel 2018
The Great Hunter at Home

Georg Kargl Fine Arts

Sculpture
coat stand, colonial hat, hunting coat, 2 shotguns
200.0 x 70.0 （厘米）
78.7 x 27.6 （吋）
Hunting might be regarded as a special, and particularly controversial, use of the natural world. It has also a special status in Dion's spectrum of interests. Many of Mark Dion's work can be associated with the business of hunting, e. g. this installation shows a coat stand, colonial hat, hunting coat and 2 shotguns. Eventhow it may seams so very domesticated and even familiar, the arrangement invokes a very strange impression. The fact, that they are removed from their orginial context highlights a fundamentally sinister aspect of their purpurs: that the owner sees while not being seen, it's present is palpable. But what strikes the viewers attention most, is the target motiv on the back of the jacket, indicating, that the roles have changed from predator to prey. By ironically appropriating the outer form of the traditional method of displaying hunting tools should not distract one from the fact that life takes pity on no one, even less on itself. But on the other side Dion is not out to censure this lust - but, all the same, to make the viewer more aware of the price exacted.