A website showing photographs of fish dressed as people recalls the art of Bosch, Bruegel and Hirst to covey a sense of wonder - and even horror.
April 19, 2007 11:16 AM
The appearance of fish in art is mostly confined to kitschy watercolours of anglers sitting beside Cumbrian lakes. These do little to convey just how thoroughly alien fish are. For that, one needs to look at the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch, or Pieter Bruegel, or latterly Damien Hirst, all of whom recognised that something that breaths through its gills and lives under water can convey a special sense of wonder and even horror. All three of these artists lent their work a further level of discomfort by literally taking the fish out of water. With Bruegel and Bosch they appear flying backwards through the air or emerging from the orifices of the damned, with Hirst's sharks float lifelessly in formaldehyde. Well now a website is attempting to do something similar.
'A series of photographs of sardines, anchovies and all manner of other aquatic species are seen dressed as people. Initially this seems fairly funny, but as you trawl through the pictures of fish dressed in dinner jackets, or pink nylon stoles, or diamanté bracelets, the cumulative effect borders, if not on the disgusting, then certainly on the disturbing, I have no idea what the purpose of this site is, but I am reasonably sure that if Bosch were alive today he would recognise his legacy. I would be interested to know if there are any other sites out there that are equally as disconcerting. Let me know.'
