PERFORMING HUMAN THROUGH ANIMAL
Master of Fine Arts
2017
DAVID CONSTANTINO SALAZAR
Interdisciplinary Master’s in Art, Media and Design
OCAD UNIVERSITY

ABSTRACT

The exhibition Performing Human through Animal is comprised of animal sculptures that explore anthropomorphic characters, for the purpose of communicating desire, addiction and degradation through allegory. Animal forms speak directly to human characteristics. I simultaneously use this to evoke humour through the ridiculous circumstances of the individual and collective narratives of the artworks. The underlying intent was to symbolically use the animal figures to discuss human intellectual and emotional conflicts, which result during periods of abstinence from our desires and addictions. This exhibition aimed to engage the impulsiveness of the addict. The consumption of excess, the pleasure of satisfying desire, and the battle against these desires. With these pieces, I engaged my own struggle with addiction, the processes one goes through when confronting temptation and relapse; the use of allegory helps the viewer to identify with figures, permitting recollections of their own impulsiveness to consume in excess.
Keywords: symbolic constructs, human identity, allegory, anthropomorphic characters, desire, addiction, relapse, sculpture