In Praise of the Beast reflects on the contraposition between nature and artificiality, between order and chaos, between human constructions and the power of nature. It also considers our expectations regarding nature and how influenced they are by culture. Nature always escapes us, always wins, always surprises us with the unexpected.

I come from a place where food and the meetings around food are very important. Food is linked to social life, to social rules and roles. And the cake is a very particular element, since it is directly connected with celebration.

Wild animals play an important role in traditional culture; being part of many fables, myths and beliefs. Wild boars are brute and dirty, big and scary. The cake is sweet and fragile, and requires a lot of elaboration. I liked the idea of confronting these opposites, of making an absurd gigantic cake and place it out of its normal environment, in the middle of nature, by night, in winter; to offer it to the beasts in an absurd misunderstanding.

 

 

 

 

 

I filmed In Ictu Oculi in the small village where I come from in Navarra, North of Spain. Vultures are a common animal there, although a few years ago they were almost extinct. I chose to work with them because of their powerful presence as a symbol of negative feelings, linked to death, fear, illness, dirt. People know little about them as real animals, they are surrounded by an aura that surpasses their actual biological existence.

This is a work about the impossibility of permanence, about the vulnerability of life and of all situations, about the impossibility of control. A work about the irrational, about the forces of chaos in nature and inside the human being. In this sense, it is linked to the present moment and socio-economical circumstances.

It is based in Baroque themes, such as the still life and vanitas. The title is taken from the most famous Spanish vanitas, painted by Valdés Leal in Sevilla. It means “In the blink of an eye”, referring to how quick things can change or end.

Here again I use food as a symbol of civilization, and animals as a kind of alter ego from the wild, and there are also references to the representation of the Last Supper in the history of art.

 

more information:

http://www.gretaalfaro.com