First Fridays: The art bizarre
Dogs meld with celebrity, and dubious medicine is brought to light.
By ALEX SCHUBERT
Special to The Star
Byron C. Cohen Gallery
I’m making a hairless Chinese dog that’s supposed to be Barry Manilow,” artist David Hevel says.
Hevel is soft-spoken, but even over the phone there’s no mistaking his enthusiasm for the idea.
“That’s just funny,” he adds.
Hevel, who left Missouri for California and a masters in fine arts in 2000, usually begins his sculptures with an exotic animal, a taxidermy form, which he then matches to a celebrity’s personality. He has made Tyra Banks into a giraffe, Britney Spears into a baboon and Mariah Carey into a goat. Hevel’s offbeat works at Byron C. Cohen Gallery include a decapitated Missy Elliott.
For his presentation at the Cohen Gallery this month, which debuts as part of January’s First Fridays event, he’s taking a simpler approach. It’s called “Diva Hound Smack Down at the Grammys.”
“The whole show is dogs, except for Paris Hilton. She’s a blind monkey,” Hevel said.
The inspiration is this year’s Grammy Awards ceremony, and Hevel uses the occasion to underscore the subtle motives of his ingénues. Beyoncé, Carrie Underwood and Paula Abdul devour a headless Missy Elliott in one particularly weird, gory piece.
His sculptures combine craft-store finds with a florist’s approach to composition, and he seems to be skewering both tabloid culture and home décor.
“David’s work is risky, because it’s so decadent, and so showy, and so over-the-top,” Byron Cohen’s assistant director, Toma Wolff, said. “I’m really curious to see how Kansas City reacts to it.”
If the enthusiastic response to the H&R Block Artspace’s “Cryptozoology” exhibition, which featured an assortment of imaginative animal sculptures, is any indication, Kansas City may be ready for Hevel’s doggie divas.