Art of the Living Dead
ECOVORE: http://www.theurbn.com/category/feature/ecovore-feature/
City Park in Denver, photo by Robin Tierney
In the last of ECOVORE’s three-part series on Denver’s nature-themed art, we stop at Denver Museum of Nature and Science in bucolic City Park to survey an intersection of science and art.
A Strange Beauty, Photographic Studies of the Museum’s Collections by John Bonath is on view through February 19. The Denver artist has documented several dozen museum specimens in digital images, some augmented with oil paint. Fauna numbers among the collected items. The beauty of the animals lives on, even though their independence and lives were taken and their beings reduced to specimens.
"Appendages" Orangutan Hand & Gorilla Foot by John Bonath
I find myself praying for these animals, all animals, as I study the works, which Bonath has handled with dignity. In some cases, people posed with the lifeless animals. A young shirtless boy presents a crocodile carcass; the boy’s posture suggests an air of unmerited bravado and his eyes project a cruel coldness beyond his years.
"Artemis and Actaeon" Sabin Aell, Homo sapiens, Fresh Kill Pronghorn Antelope by John Bonath
Even more disturbing to me is the poetically named “Artemis and Actaeon” for the tragic figures of Greek mytholology. In the frame, a delicate, fresh-killed, still bleeding Pronghorn antelope is held by a classically attractive female Homo sapiens. I don’t know how she felt about the kill, but her eyes reflect no remorse.
I’m immediately drawn to the smooth, gentle disembodied hands and feet from our distant relatives in the ape family. Two appendages are posed in prayer position; when a strolling couple comes upon this display, they seem to be as affected as I.
"Prayer" Orangutan & Gorilla Hands by John Bonath
Leaving, I pray that humans come to realize these animals’ lives belong to them, not us, and to treat them as beings, not objects. For me, Strange Beauty served as a memorial, a place to express reverence, and contemplate a world in which we extend the Hippocratic Oath to all sentient beings: Do no harm.
For uplifting views of living fauna and flora, here are some terrific, lesser-known spots nearby. At the City of Denver’s Buffalo Herd Nature Preserve, 20 miles west of Denver, 40 buffalo roam in a natural setting. It’s the only city-maintained herd in the United States. The buffalo are direct descendants of the last wild buffalo herd left in America.
Diorama: This Is How Bison Scratch Their Backs, photo by Robin Tierney
Ten minutes northeast of downtown, bison, bald eagles, deer, burrowing owls and about 300 other species of native animals populate the 15,000-acre Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. Formerly a toxic landscape used for testing chemical weapons and pesticides, the Arsenal has been cleaned up and restored to its natural beauty.
Mosaic in Denver: A Life in Harmony with Nature, photo by Robin Tierney
Planning a trip to Denver? Click here for listings of events, museums and other visitor info.
