Tessa Farmer at The Crypt Gallery, St Pancras Church, London.
To mark the release of the new Amon Tobin album (ISAM), Saatchi Collection artist Tessa Farmer put together the Control Over Nature installation, brought to life by the music of Tobin.
Vicious fairies (just 10mm in height) made from parts of insects, build imagined dwellings from carcases and bones – the most breath taking piece being a mummified cat infested by fairies accompanied by the track Kitty Cat.
As you enter the crypt (lit only by the spot lights angled at the installation) you stumble into a swarm consisting of the husks of dead insects – from the beautiful butterfly (featured on the ISAM album cover) to ferocious hornets and the usually bothersome blue bottles, which seam to glisten in this low lit grotto.
Tessa’s use of natural materials to create a sinister yet beautiful world where fairies rule, works in perfect symmetry with the hauntingly intricate soundscapes Tobin expertly crafts.
Possibly one of the best exhibitions in the most atmospheric venue I’ve ever been to.