Ichthyosaurus, 2003

The artwork pledge

• NO POVERTY
• QUALITY EDUCATION
• AFFORDABLE AND CLEAN ENERGY
• INDUSTRY, INNOVATION, AND INFRASTRUCTURE
• SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND COMMUNITIES
• RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION
• CLIMATE ACTION
• LIFE BELOW WATER
• LIFE ON LAND

Tags

• Amazon Rainforest
• Animals
• Anthropocene
• Anthropomorphism
• Archaeology
• Biodiversity
• Biotechnology
• Cabinet of Curiosities
• Climate Change
• Consumerism
• Drawing
• Dystopia
• Endangered Species
• Ernst Haeckel
• Extinction
• Figurative
• France
• Global Warming
• Industrial Revolution
• Installation
• Land Art
• Landscape
• Massachusetts
• Mixed Media
• Natural History
• Nature
• New York City
• North America
• Nostalgia
• Paris
• Pencil on Paper
• Poaching
• Pollution
• Robert Smithson
• Sculpture 3D
• Social
• Spiral Jetty
• United States
• Wildfire
• Wood
• Works on Paper
• Zoonosis

About this artwork

Under the banner of the Gassendi museum, both a natural history and contemporary art institution in Provence, France, and following the rules of scientific illustration, Mark Dion renders an early Jurassic marine reptile. Below the drawings of the Ichthyosaurus are the various portraits and paraphernalia of naturalists of the 19th century, who spent years debating on the animal’s classification. Displaying this amount of history behind one species’ discovery reveals humans’ stubbornness to know the world they inhabit, maybe without consequences in mind. A strong advocate against climate change, we can imagine that the artist pities the ancient ocean dweller, begging to be left to rest, similarly to today’s well and alive marine life.

More artworks by Mark Dion

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• Mark Dion Confectionary Curiosity, 2024 In Situ - fabienne leclerc €25,000 Buy now

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