“Keepsake” | Randy Grskovic |  Exhibition: The Age of Information

26” x 30” | collage, cotton balls, craft moss, Belgian linen, plexiglass

Private Collection of Steve Yanor

This work was originally commissioned for a non-profit animal rights organization who invited a group of artists to make work derived from local news publications about animal rights issues.  The artists’ involved handpicked media articles in which to create their piece for the exhibition.   This piece in particular was conceptualized around a story about a Canadian artist who bought animal bones from Africa and brought them back to Canada to make artwork from them.

The Canadian Government found out about this transaction and under National law it is illegal to possess animal bones without the proper permits.  The artist was prosecuted for the offence and the bones were confiscated.   The bones were then given to a Canadian National Museum and for display.  They were not returned to Africa.

The ideas behind this particular work question the morality of this structure.  It was deemed illegal for an artist to possess these bones and create and display work from the artifacts but it was not illegal for a Canadian institution to display bones that were not inherently theirs. 

Beyond that idea, this work begins to question the morality of the hunter and prey relationship, both in the animal “kingdom” as well as with human interactions. 

Where are these issues of right and wrong established, how do these judgments change over time and what is their immediate and lasting impact?

More questions are raised from the images and surreal narrative of the work and the viewers are invited to ask themselves “what does this mean to me?”