German physician Franz Anton Mesmer theorized that there was a natural energetic transference that occurred between all animated and inanimate objects that he called magnétisme animal (animal magnetism) and other spiritual forces often grouped together as mesmerism. Thusly, we arrive at the word mesmerize. Ojo Señor!, a Barcelona based art collective have take to the streets with their mesmerizing wheat-pasted posters of haunting children, as well as a series inspired by Edgar Allan Poe, with glowing eyes. But Ojo's intentions might be far more sinister – Ojo Señor! wants to control your mind. Pas Un Autre got in touch with Ojo Señor! to learn more about their diabolical plan for world domination. Read interview after the jump.
Is there one of you or many of you? Who is Ojo Senor? People usually use the word "collective". But, the thing is that Ojo Señor! is the one watching and stalking out there in the darkness, or the one standing totally hypnotized in front of him, or even the one who steals the LEDS [Ojo Señor! used LED lights to illuminate the eyes] when nobody's looking. It is not about us.
Where did the idea to incorporate LED lights into the posters come from? Kids from Village of the Damned lost their powers when they were flattened by the printer. So we were forced to bring them back to life. This is the least we could do for having them working for us out on the streets. But the whole idea came up to us because of a sneaky shiny eyed cats stearing at us at night. So we started to talk about it and then we remembered a movie about kids controlling people's mind (Village of the Damned).
What are some of your inspirations or influences? The characters you see and will see staring on the walls.
How long have you been doing this particular project? We've been 4 months working on it, but Ojo Señor! took an entire month; you know...vacations and stuff.
How long have you been putting your art out there in this medium? This is Ojo Señor!'s first time.
Does you have a particular political or social message? Or any message for that matter? Yeah, BEWARE!
I guess getting in trouble for the whole street art thing is always a risk - any close calls or worse? Luckily, no.
What you think about mainstream popularity and commercialization of street art? Just the same way about making art from mainstreamed streets and commercial popularity. We havent thought of that. There's so much music to listen to. But it is really ironic to bring that up. Why else would you bomb the whole city with your name but to get some attention.
Whats the master plan? Control them, to control you, to control yourself. Summarizing...Control the whole world, with the less effort possible. Pretty basic economics.
By the time your reading this, Ryan Hanley could very well be pulling back the flesh off an otter or maybe a pig. Taxidermy is an age-old profession – romantic, morbid and seemingly alchemical in the practitioners ability to bring the dead back to life – even if its only in the sparkle of two glass eyeballs. Taxidermy, from the Greek word for arrangement of skin, became popular in the Victorian era – mementos of man's triumph over beast. Soon, taxidermy became an art and the taxidermist an artist. Florida based taxidermist Ryan Hanley is an artist, but also, I can tell, a legend in the making – a regular American outlaw peeling back the hides of God's own creatures to make his hard earned dollar. In a country where man is free to do as he pleases, if he so is willing, Hanley, with his switch-blade grin and greased up pompadour, is doing alright in my book. Lately, Hanley has been presenting his objets de la mort on a tumblr called 'The Taxidermist' – which provides a fascinating peek into the daily life of a young taxidermist at work. Naturally I was curious. Read interview after the jump.
What's a normal day look like for The Taxidermist? Wake up, fuck my wife, make a shitload of coffee, thaw out an animal from the freezer, hit the flea markets, score some roadkill, check my traps, come home to a defrosted animal, put a Venom record on, get to work skinning/fleshing/mounting/re-shaping the animal, take a shower, cook a french dinner (or if the animal was something fresh, cook its meat), fuck my wife, relax.
How did this project come about? Not a project, a trade that I have worked hard at for the last two years. Self-taught then apprenticed at a taxidermy shop for a hard ass hillbilly ex-con who gave me six five foot alligators my very first day to skin out and flesh, which having never attempted before I then completely fucking aced. Not one fuck up. Needless to say, he was impressed and this was just the beginning of my year of apprenticing at the shop, doing everything from an elk to a 13 1/2 foot alligator (among countless others, not always as big) to someone's pet dog and any animal that came through the shop doors.
Where do you find the animals you work with? A lot are for customers who bring in a kill/catch/pet but often I find a lot of road kill everyday which piles up in the freezer. So long as the animal is fresh enough, or even a little beat up, you can always save at least the head, arms or hands, if not do an entire mount which is typically what happens.
What is your favorite creature to mount? Mounting a 13 1/2 foot alligator was pretty unreal. Having your hands and arms inside this thing that has been living in a swamp for 50 years that you now get to bring back to life forever is pretty sick. As far as favorites go, every animal is different to mount and I enjoy each one. Always looking forward to finding a new animal I've never stuffed before, always a new challenge I am happy to take on.
This is gross, but did you know they just found out that Armadillos are carriers of leprosy? Yeah we heard about this, but we also heard that nearly all people are immune to the disease so I could really give a fuck.
Can you tell me a little bit about the shootin' squirrel? After mounting hundreds of stand up alligators, sometimes holding beer cans, other times footballs (we do live in Florida), I thought why not make a less cheesy version with this small squirrel and one of the miniature .357 magnum guns we picked up one of the flea markets. Turns out, everyone's going fucking nuts for them.
Any threats yet from animal activists? I got a house full of animals and couldn't love them more.
Whats the future look like for The Taxidermist? Tomorrow I'll be in the shop mounting an otter and once that's done, make a few shootin' squirrels, maybe flesh a pig skin to turn into a rug for our sick house and clean up a few of the animals that have finished drying to then send to customers.
