Village Pet Store
A mother hen watching over her baby chicken McNuggets in front of a chicken coop? A rabbit putting on lipstick? Breaded fish sticks happily swimming in a fish tank? Definitely not your ordinary pet store, even if it’s in New York!
These animatronic works of art are part of Banksy’s latest show, a complete departure from his previous work, but as whimsical as most of his graffiti and of course appearing as mysteriously as his street work usually does.
The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill, as the pop-up gallery is called, appeared to be a regular pet shop until we took a closer look at the window displays. Besides the aforementioned chicken McNuggets sipping barbecue sauce under the watchful eye of mother hen, there’s a CCTV camera nurturing its young, a fur coat doubling as a leopard, and the adorable/tragic rabbit applying lipstick (obviously referencing the plight of the furry animals within the cosmetics industry).
Inside the store is a featherless Tweetie Bird swinging solemny in its cage, a mischievous chimp watching chimp porn, and hot dogs of all kinds luxuriating in their glass cages. Lots of pet treats and toys are displayed on the walls, but sadly, nothing is for sale.
The animatronics are so fantastically done that the initial feeling of whimsy and fun permeate the space and stay with you for a while. It is much later, as it happened with us, that you might consider the pro-animal rights statements the artist is trying to communicate.
The space is already swarming with passerbys who are intrigued by the window display and the space is too small to handle the traffic, but the store is open until midnight every night, so that should accommodate the crowds that are bound to follow.
Social currency: Banksy is one of the most celebrated street artists and one of the few making the transition to the big league. This is a major departure from his usual style and a fun space to explore.
The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill
Tags: Art
This article was posted by Stephan Paschalides on Friday, October 10th, 2008 at 12:08 am and is filed under Art & Culture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
