Wellington based artist Miss Mica Still presents an exploration of debauchery; fleshing out the violent, absurd and often humorous elements of human nature. Still's trophy-like sculptural works depict dark scenes. The antagonists of these borderline domestic fables are animals, frozen in their acts of vice.Sensual mouths mock or scream; feeding, fighting, grinning and dancing.

Wellington based artist Miss Mica Still presents an exploration of debauchery; fleshing out the violent, absurd and often humorous elements of human nature. Still's trophy-like sculptural works depict dark scenes. The antagonists of these borderline domestic fables are animals, frozen in their acts of vice.Sensual mouths mock or scream; feeding, fighting, grinning and dancing. Set in their burlesque world they drink, smoke and lull through their indulgence.

Beautifully detailed and strangely familiar these symbolic depictions are not soon put out of mind and fill the viewer with a sense of voyeurism and unnerve. Mica's paintings, also featuring in Wholesale Killers, are equally arresting. You feel as though you are looking at sound; at thought or feeling not paint. Linear silhouettes of animals and organs engaged in strange ritual spread out and taper off in a subconscious drawing kind of way. Geometric lines slice through them, veins or shadows interconnect the bright figures. When confronted with these animal forms, reflecting such human cognition, an underlying message is offered in Still's work: These creatures we live alongside are at our mercy. Wholesale Killers offers a compelling portrayal of humankind; our shadows, our insides, our dreams. Still's beautifully executed works are an illuminating foray into the subconscious. An invitation upon reflection to laugh, or cry.

Miss Mica Still | Wholesale Killers | 4 - 16 Nov | Satellite Gallery satellitegallery.co.nz | 307 6416 | Cnr St Benedicts st & Newton Rd (Entrance St Benedicts St)

Opening preview: Tuesday 4th November 5.30 - 7pm

29/10/08