From the Curator of Museum Services at the University of Dundee :
David Blyth + Nick Gordon
The Gaff
Running until 29th June 2018
D’Arcy Thompson Zoology Museum, University of Dundee
Open Fridays 2pm– 4.30pm. By appointment at other times.
Welcome to The Gaff. Inspired by the preserved vestiges of D’Arcy Thompson’s personal collection, Scottish artists David Blyth and Nick Gordon pay homage to this visionary man of Natural Science through playful response to the displays at the D’Arcy Thompson Zoology Museum. With reference to Thompson’s seminal book On Growth and Form, the exhibition showcases individual sculptural works by the two artists unified through their interrogation of ‘material culture’ and the accepted codes of the museum experience. ‘Behave, you Animal!’
In fact, it was a mutual interest in D’Arcy Thompson’s book that brought the artists together for this collaborative exhibition. By introducing new artworks into the historical collection to challenge the conventions of taxonomy and explore alternative connections and contexts, they aim to release new ideas from the zoological specimens within the collection.
The Gaff seeks to breathe new life into the museum experience by encouraging a different set of questions about the natural world and our perceptual understanding of what this means today.
David Blyth lives and works in rural Aberdeenshire. He works at Gray’s School of Art as an academic lecturer on the Contemporary Art Practice course. David’s work involves the craft skills of taxidermy to draw upon narratives of Scottish folklore, shamanism and human-animal relations.
Nick Gordon lives and works in Stromness, Orkney, where he works as a technician at Soulisquoy Printmakers. An avid beachcomber, Nick’s work uses mixed media collage to explore our relationship with the environment. His work is a contemporary reflection of the cognitive processes of collecting, arranging, displaying and analysing – an archaeology of sorts.
The exhibition can be seen in the Zoology Museum on Fridays 2-4.30pm until 29 June. Find out more about it here.
