L’homme aux oreilles de porc 2005

Michel Blazy made "L’homme aux oreilles de porc" out of dog biscuits and, well, what look like pig ears. The way he's assembled these everyday, edible materials into a skeletal figure really tickles my fancy. It’s like a macabre joke, or a poignant memento mori made from the stuff we feed our pets. Look at the surface of those biscuits. Each one is slightly different in tone, a sort of beige-on-beige symphony of baked goods. You can almost smell the dog treats, can't you? There is something quite disturbing about the use of abject and perishable materials to represent the human form, but there is also a humor in this juxtaposition. It makes me think of some of the sculptures of Tony Feher who also used everyday materials such as glass bottles and tape. But more than anything, I find this piece to be a reminder of the transient nature of all things. It’s a little crumbly, a little absurd, and utterly captivating.