A lion unravels into a peeled orange, a frog pops open to reveal an avocado stone at its core and a crouching fox masquerades as a carrot.
These are all the visual reworkings of artist Sarah DeRemer, who is showing her work in Ilsan, Gyeonggi Province, this month.
DeRemer studied art at university, and worked as a vet technician before coming to Korea two years ago, but didn’t start her surgery on animals until coming to Korea.
She had previously painted but was won over by the flexibility and portability of photo work.
“Nowadays I’m definitely drawn to the digital world and photography,” she said.
Her playful work has won her some Internet fame with her “Big Mouthed Birds” series, in which songbirds were given horses’ gnashers.
Some of the works in the current selection are plays on words, with kiwi birds opening up to reveal green insides flecked with black seeds and a “Mandarill Orange.” Others are just based on color or visual effect.
“It isn’t a statement but I realized it had the potential to be thought-provoking and opinion forming,” she said.
“I never create art to display an opinion but I do it to allow others to form their own.”
Descriptions of her work have varied from “fruit-animals that make meat vegan-friendly” to simply disturbing. One woman even questioned her right to manipulate animal pictures and suggested she work on images of humans.
“I’m really just enjoying the fact that the series can be viewed in so many ways,” DeRemer said.
“I’m just happy to inspire discussion of any sort,” she said.
Her photos can be seen on the walls of Color of Money in the F building of La Festa in Ilsan until March 14.
For more information on Sarah DeRemer’s work, visit
www.sarahderemer.com,
(
paulkerry@heraldcorp.com)
