What's going on around the globe
The Getty Centre in Los Angeles is experiencing a bout of jungle fever. Animals seem to be all the rage there and are the focus of two current exhibitions.
Although most of the crowd is making its way towards Oudry's Painted Menagerie, a lavish presentation of the works of French painter Jean-Baptiste Oudry, who died in 1755, I head in the opposite direction towards Zoopsia, a comparatively small exhibition by Los Angeles artist Tim Hawkinson.
Zoopsia, which runs until September 9, features all new works by Hawkinson, a 46-year- old native of San Francisco who has shown at the Venice Biennale, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art and New York's Whitney Biennial.
He's known for using common household or even industrial materials in his works, often incorporating images of himself. Although that may sound like a challenging task when creating animal-related artworks, Hawkinson succeeds in this small but riveting show.
On entering the room where the five-piece exhibition is held, the eye is drawn to Octopus (above), a sprawling pink-and-black collage. Look closely and you'll see that the arms are made up of images of Hawkinson's mouth: in some, his lips are sealed; in others, pursed; in a few, he appears to be whistling. Against the sprawling baby-pink body of the creature, which is laid on a black backdrop, the effect is captivating.