This is the first presentation ever of a new groundbreaking exhibition in which contemporary art speaks in creative and compelling ways to the timely issue of endangered animals. The international array of major artists includes several Americans such as Kiki Smith, Chris Jordan, and Esther Traugot who work in diverse media and variously use poetry, pathos, and sometimes the grotesque to evoke the plight of threatened species. Themes range from poaching and pollution to broader concepts such as our psychological bonds with animals. In this last realm, Kiki Smith’s symbolist tapestries bespeak her growing interest in the physical and spiritual links between humanity and nature. Punning humor combines with pathos in the work of Miami sculptor Billie Grace Lynn, who presents three life-sized ghostly white “elephants in the room.” At a time when science teaches us more than ever about the interconnectedness of the global environment, these artists remind us of our intimate connections with animals as well as our complicity in their suffering. ETHICS EXCESS EXTINCTION was organized by Art Works for Change in Oakland, California.

Support provided by Texas Commission on the Arts