Butchers Dream ( meat landscapes) Maria Koshenkova

The sculpture “ Landscapes” consists of a dining table and glass objects presented on handcrafted porcelain plates. I took the structure of meat and recreated it into a new material - glass. I see a similar process in my turning live models of meat pieces and organs into glass objects as that of a cook turning the same objects into meals. And when people buy an expensive meal in a gourmet restaurant is often derived from the same motives as when they buy art – to show they can. In my opinion multiple sliced pieces of meat look almost like strange LEGO blocks which can be used as a building materials. By giving the anatomic shapes transparent form, my aim is to introduce the aesthetic engineering of meat and the similarities between landscapes or architectural models. Similarities which are often ignored or unappreciated, since flesh gives most people negative associations to some degree. Mortality, industrial killing, guilt, smell and rot are natural emotional responses when looking at a piece of meat or an organ. To use glass for me is a way to clean the images I work with from previous function and qualities. Glass gives visibility to the invisible part. Not only in the literal physical meaning of the word but also on a deeper associative level it reveals hidden processes. At the same time glass is a “pretty“ material, so it is also a way to “wrap” the idea. To make the viewer look through the superficial and shiny attractive beauty of glass. To unpack the piece so to speak. In both works “ Landscapes” and “Hearts B/W “the visual urge for me were anatomic shapes and my aim was to fixate the way energy transforms in a stage between life and death. Also both projects are reflections on how the Danes in my view have a very fascinating fetish for meat.