Liz McGrath show in Los Angeles

Elizabeth McGrath is a Los Angeles artist who creates exquisitely creepy and lovely dioramas and sculptures involving nightmarishly mutant animals, circus sideshow decadence, and delightfully gross horror movie gore. Liz is a master of faux taxidermy. She doesn't use animal parts at all, instead creating her terrifying beasts from resin, fake fur, and fake leather layered over taxidermy armatures and beautified with paint, roofing tar, and hand-sewn fabric. Seen here, "Deer House" (37" x 20" x 12") and "Ready for the Parade - Strip XXIII" (35" x 30" x 6.5"). Liz has a new solo show, titled The Incurable Disorder, opening this Saturday at the Billy Shire Fine Arts gallery in Culver City, California. Along with dozens of sculptures and watercolors, a new 3D video from Liz's goth-country band Miss Derringer will be screened. Earlier this week, I visited Liz's studio and found her to be wonderfully charming, funny, and light-hearted. I think her art embodies this juxtaposition of the cute and scary, the hysterically funny and brutally tragic. Look for my interview with Liz McGrath on an upcoming episode of BBtv.

Link to online gallery at Billy Shire Fine Arts
Link to Elizabeth McGrath's site
Link to Miss Derringer on MySpace
Link to buy Elizabeth McGrath's monograph, Everything That Creeps

[#1 posted by jeremydcox , December 14, 2007 8:13 AM]

Looks a bit like Erick Swenson.

http://www.jamescohan.com/artists/erick-swenson/

[#2 posted by Kirsten , December 14, 2007 8:35 AM]

I love love love Liz and her creepy menagerie...so excited for this show.
Erick Swenson is AMAZING- thank you for the link!

[#3 posted by Esther Sassaman , December 14, 2007 11:22 AM]

This McGrath should make some China Mieville characters. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Races_of_Bas-Lag)

[#4 posted by colin , December 14, 2007 8:18 PM]

And now for a shameless plug by the publisher:

You can buy Liz's book, Everything That Creeps, directly from the publisher:
http://www.lastgasp.com/d/25689/

(The book was co-published by Last Gasp and Liz's gallery, La Luz de Jesus/BSFA)

[#5 posted by Bonnie , December 15, 2007 2:00 PM]

I adore Liz's work! In face here's some photos of the first show I went to when she had her work at the Shooting Gallery in San Francisco:
http://flickr.com/photos/bonniegrrl/sets/1139801/

I was even quick enough to buy one of her snarky rabbits: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bonniegrrl/1895155013/in/set-72157602969385612/

[#6 posted by Bonnie , December 15, 2007 2:03 PM]

Here's a great video interview of Liz McGrath's work and her studio here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RC59YSxhAnU

[#7 posted by LAWeekly , December 19, 2007 5:27 PM]

Here's a link to some images from the gallery opening in Culver City.

http://www.laweekly.com/index.php?option=com_slideshow&type=1&gallery=1014&Itemid=565