The Bandicoot

"Alas! Alas! the Bandicoot!
His head's more piggy than his foot.
His relatives include a bear,
A wolf, a mole with golden hair,
An anteater, a wombat too,
A possom and a kangaroo.
And yet with such a lot to choose from
His choice is absolutely gruesome.

He says, 'I'll grow me rabbit's ears
And that will shame aunt wolf to tears.
I'll wear a long nose like a shrew
Disgracing cousin kangaroo.
And to annoy my uncle bear
I'll have a rat tail with no hair.
They'll call me The Australian Brute!'
Alas! Alas! The Bandicoot!"

-Charles Mortimer, Some Queer Animals and Why

Hear more of these excellent poems in person!

Resa Blatman

Our latest show is based on a fantastic collection of children's verses, Some Queer Animals and Why. Somerville artist Resa Blatman contributed five pieces to the exhibition.

Her work features birds' fanning plumes, glassy-eyed fruit bats and voluptuous gatherings of grapes.

Building off the relationship between ornamental and realistic, Blatman is all about visual contrast. She creates tension between the decorative Victorian and the contemporary surrealist. Her forms contrast three-dimensionality and two-dimensionality.

The result is something wild and sensual.

Mounting heaps of fruit, organic shapes, and gold pebbled dots promote a sense of womanly abundance and potential.

Animals and decorative design plucked from another time arrive in new, mystical settings that are beautiful, and at times, dark contradictions.