Garth Knight: Bestiary

Overview

The subjects of Garth Knight's Bestiary are doubly mesmerising. For one thing, they are shiny and ornately bejewelled, displayed in bright contrast to the black vacuum of their backgrounds. For another, they are weird scary creatures. Sure, you might think butterflies are pretty or seahorses are endearing, but they're kind of freaky when you really think about them. And bees? Bees can sting you. And spiders can bite you. And bugs have their skeletons on the outside. Tell me the word 'carapace' isn't sinister.

The creatures populating this series have never been alive, but they still somehow look pinned down, as though a jeweller has recreated specimens from the display cases of lepidopterists and entomologists. As they sparkle they seem ready to dart or scuttle or whir out of the images, with the absence that constitutes their spatial context effecting a strange sort of atemporal suspense. It's hard to look away.