top of page

GRUNFELD THOMAS

OPLADEN [1956]

Thomas Grünfeld is best known for his “Misfits”—sculptures made from taxidermied animals. Grünefeld’s animals, however, subvert the typically scientific nature of taxidermy and instead represent fictional creatures: He places a pig’s head on a bird’s body in Misfit (pig/bird) (2001), or a dog’s head on the body of a calf in Misfit (doberman) (1998). The works reference German folklore, specifically children’s wolperfinger—moralizing fables about human-like animals—and as such evoke proverbial battles between real and imaginary, good and evil.

bottom of page