Haunch Of Venison Host Tasty Exhibition - Mythologies

I have vague memories of visiting the Museum of Mankind as a child. One image that remains strong is the shadow puppets they had on display. The 2D characters with weird faces and limbs fascinated me. They had an other-worldliness that slightly creeped me out but kept me looking on. And it's this feeling that comes back to me as I push though the door of 6 Burlington Gardens. This is where Haunch of Venison Auction House is holding it's Mythologies exhibition, and where the Museum of Mankind once was before it went off to join the British Museum.



Tracked down this shadow puppet performance from Indonesia.


Through the show they've created a giant cabinet of curiosities that echoes the old museum and shows off the Victorian building to it's best. There's a lot of weird and wonderful stuff here to check out, but it's not all quality curio. This might be due to the fact that it's an exhibition that's curated by an auction house, so you sometimes get the impression their artists work has been crow-barred into the theme.

All in all though, some top work from some of the industries contemporary heavy weights.

Here's some of my picks from the show:



Tim Noble and Sue Webster, get rude with shadows on their Wall of Shame.





The anatomically correct skeletons of Sylvester and Tweety Pie, by Hyungkoo Lee.







Nice big photos of Damien Hirst's Skull. They had glass on the surface so it shimmered as you walked towards it.

Originally, a crystal skull took pride of place in the Museum of Mankind.



This image unfortunately doesn't do justice to Mat Collishaw's dead moths on scanner beds. The level of detail produced by high res scans and huge blowups resulted in something really beautiful.



Ed and Nancy Kienholz's, 76 J.C.s Led the Big Charade Christ bashing installation.



A "scartchy chin moment" over two hungry stuffed Dobermans (Jochem Hendricks, Siblings).





The guys in these photos believe their magical powers can turn bullets to water. Here they are cammi-ed up and ready to do battle, secure in their beliefs that they will escape unscathed.

I can't imagine they go up against many guns or else I think their faith in magic would've been seriously called in to question a while back.



Another stuffed dog. This time it's caught it's own tale. How cute.



And yet more taxidermy...Polly Morgan plays with the artform, celebrating the corpse as beauty instead of attempting to fake the animals mortality.

Cheery stuff eh?