Dead or Alive

Dead or Alive features a unique body of work by the artist Mark Fairnington, whose recent painterly preoccupations – the pseudo-scientific documentation of hitherto unknown species of South American insects – address issues of verisimilitude, taxonomy, representation and meaning in art.

Mark Gisbourne’s contribution to the book places Fairnington’s work within a postmodern art historical context where art and science, while informing one another, nevertheless remain distinctive disciplines. George McGavin, one of the world’s most respected authorities on insect life has written an account of Fairnington and his experiences in the field, in search of new, uncategorised species of insect life.

See also:

• Nanoq: flat out and bluesome