![]() ![]() Similarly, the containers made of reeds that comprise Viper’s basket and Cobra’s basket appear straight out of Jean-Léon Gérôme’s oeuvre, except that one is adorned with silk bearing more of Koch’s beguiling imagery. But this newborn is no Mowgli: If any relations are established between the preverbal human and the slinky beast in Koch’s piece, they are vexed at best. ![]() ![]() A Very Dangerous Child depicts a leopard carrying a small baby in its maw, evoking, perhaps, The Jungle Book. Other pieces lampoon orientalism as it intersects with the representation of animals in pop culture. An installation neatly fitted into a closet, Perch (all works 2017) consists of a wood and leather perch fit for a falcon and centrally placed, like a Minimalist totem, in the diminutive space, surrounded on the floor by feathers that, en masse, read as pattern. Such an unsentimental attitude toward animal-human interactions characterizes the drawings and objects by Aidan Koch gathered here, which range from small ceramic sculptures of cats and monkeys to drawings of women arranging their bodies into the shapes of letters. The relationship with this hawk, though, is underpinned by violence as much as affection, and frustration more than familiarity. In Helen Macdonald’s 2014 memoir H Is for Hawk, the author recounts a period of mourning punctuated by her training of a predatory bird, describing how their new bond tempers her grief. ![]()
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