Markus Schinwald's Animal Works at Galerie Yvon Lambert

Austrian artist Markus Schinwald presents his Animal Works at Galerie Yvon Lambert in Paris from April 5 to May 5, 2012. Since the late 1990s, his practice has centered on the human body as a constructed and projected surface. Schinwald, who splits his time between Vienna and Los Angeles, moves fluidly across performance, dance, visual arts, and film. His work often incorporates prostheses that do not compensate for defects but rather remove the replacement function, creating ambiguity. He alters Biedermeier-era portraits by painting additions directly onto the canvases, making them indistinguishable from the original. These additions include mouth straps, ear pieces, and throat covers, suggesting latent elements. Schinwald also works with marionettes, contortionists, and animals like turtles and chameleons in staged terrariums. His exhibition at Yvon Lambert features these animal works, continuing his exploration of manipulation, control, and the uncanny. The artist's objects resist immediate explanation, existing in a sadomasochistic in-between that allows his creatures to perpetually precede us.