I locate beauty in the grotesque, the gaudy, and the unusual. It is for this reason that my work often pushes the limitations of taste and excess. I focus on the particular facet of beauty that deals with the macabre, and highlights the fragile and transient beauty of death and the passage of time. These qualities are also apparent in the 17th Century Flemish Vanitas paintings that I draw inspiration from.

Embracing overindulgence, visual complexity and ornamentation, my works employ a wealth of media including taxidermied animals, beads, paint, dirt, spraypaint and objects both natural and artificial. These materials are transformed and manipulated to form unabashedly theatrical, overly "sweet" and somewhat sinister vignettes and environments.

You can see more of my work at www.taragiannini.com

Tara Giannini