A Glorious Requiem For Beasts And Souls

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Artist: Leisa Rich

Title: A Glorious Requiem For Beasts And Souls

Attribution: A Glorious Requiem For Beasts And Souls, 2018, Kelly Embry

Year: 2018

Materials: Chinoiserie, fabrics, thread, dyes, batting, canvas, digital image transfers from artist original photo

Dimensions: 58” X 72” X 3”

Image Statement: A Glorious Requiem For Beasts and Souls was born of my desire to create a fantasy surrounding that exaggerates the stunning beauty of the world of nature that I find so comforting, a place in which to hide during this challenging time to be human. On the surface it is a ‘pretty’ show. The inhabitants of this saccharine art world are real and hyper-real animals, insects, and plant-life. However, these creatures have also unnaturally morphed and in some cases, have subsumed humans, turning them into hybrids I dubbed ‘Humanimals’. During these tumultuous days when human extinction seems probably imminent I find myself mulling over The Singularity, a belief based partly on science and partly on speculation that posits that humans will transcend biology, cease to exist in physical form, and their human consciousness downloaded. Nothing will inhabit a physical form should this happen. Things are out of whack.