I started using that [werewolf head] three years ago. At the beginning, it was just an alternative to the human body. I made a chopped-up werewolf. Body art is so familiar, in terms of experience. By making a monster leg, it has something of a familiar feeling but there is an added level of weirdness. Then I was very interested in the werewolf because of its complexity, its symbolic potential. It represents both good and evil, human and animal, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde — extremes on both sides. Every time I talk about my work I use the word “energy” a lot, not in a New Age kind of way. The werewolf head with crystals on it is an energy-generating object. A man transforms into the werewolf, which is the most intense transformation, physically and mentally. The werewolf goes from one state, man, to a totally opposite state, animal, in a matter of minutes or even seconds. In movies it always happens in, like, thirty seconds. It even looks painful.
Plaster, resin, paint, synthetic hair, jewellery, glitter
Collection of the artist, courtesy Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York