Fakery- Faked creatures.

hile looking at researching faked images, i was lead to look at the work of Joan Fontcuberta and his project entitled Fauna.  While looking for images of his i was lead to find that actually Fontcuberta is not the only artist that faked creatures and claimed them are real. Whilethere are examples through the years of people stating that they have found unnamed creaters, big foot, aliens, These people didnt just provide the audience with photographic evidence, but also cleverly concocked images to accompany them. 


John Fontcuberta


Joan Fontcuberta´s and Pere Formiguera´s work Fauna is the Natural History of imagination. It consists of an Archive of impossible but possibly existing animals. The images are created almost as if found while digging in the ground, Like the bones of dinosoars. Placed together in a museum style, or images of 'live'creatures of the imagination. They take form in therre very own specialist Dr. Ameisenhaufen. They go into so much detailing about each animal through the medium of this made up character its rather impressive. Creating everything from latin names to specific new classes. every last detail is recorded as would be if it was actually real. for Example:





Solenoglypha Polipodida, 1987


Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Reptilia-Ratidae
Sighting: Found in a deciduous forest in the federal state of Tamil Nadu in southern India,
thanks to informant G-16, who was attacked while looking for truffles. Observation and capture lasted for a period of 30 days, during which it proved impossible to locate any othe} specimen. Survived in captivity until it was killed by artificial means to allow study of its internal structure.
Date of Capture: 30 April 1941.
Main Traits: Osseous internal skeleton. Pulmonary respiration. Typical vertebrate nervous system. It has not been possible to observe its reproductive system, but everything would indicate that it is oviparous with division of the sexes. The captured specimen is an adult male measuring 133cm in length.
Morphology: Corresponds to a mixture of reptile and non-flying bird. Although it has no wings now, it is quite possible that more primitive forms did have them. The morphological characteristics correspond completely to those of report 21 on the postRellic fauna of Mobolk, provided by Dr. Ray’s liaison. It would thus correspond to suborder 8 of the current New Zoology.
Habits: Extremely aggressive and venomous, it hunts for food and also for the pleasure of killing. It is quite rapid and moves forward in a curious and very rapid run, thanks to the strong musculature of its 12 paws and the supplementary impulse which it obtains by undulating all of its body in a strange aerial reptation. When facing its prey it becomes completely immobile and emits a very sharp whistle which paralyzes its enemy. It maintains this immobility for as long as the predator needs to secrete the gastric juices required to digest its prey, which can vary between two minutes and three hours, as determined by the size of the victim. At the end of the whistling phase, Solenoglypha launches itself rapidly at its immobile prey and bites the nape of its neck, causing instantaneous death. Immediately afterwards, if it wishes to eat its victim, the beast vomits part of the gastric juices all over the animal and waits for this highly acidic matter to begin to take effect, while it circles around the dead animal uttering the characteristic murmur of “Globe-toe,” with a 3-pause-1 cadence. Unlike known reptiles, Solenoglypha never rests after eating. Quite the contrary, it sets off on a wild chase which is only interrupted for the purpose of defecation.


The style of the writing is experimental and yet scientific. The depth that it goes into is impressive. This style of fakery is something that i need to contemplate for my own work.  i need to work out how i am going to create this fakery for my images via the use of text. Almost doing what they have done and create a character. 






Hyungkoo Lee 


Lees work is similar in the style that it is using this idea of building a background story to validate his work. However Lee is dealing with a far different subject matter. His work constists of skeletons not that different or presented no different to those that you find in the natural history museum. the only difference is that what he presents are the skeletons of well known cartoon characters such as bugs bunny. the idea that he has taken the basis of some of the more distorted animal shaping in cartoons, and morphed them into reality is rather a comical and intresting peice of work. Not only that but to create a forensic backstory to the skeletal structures too is rather amazing. Adding alot more depth to the work presented. 

Again what makes this work as a project is the use of imagery, or in this case sculpture as well as the backstory and addition of text and 'sketches'. What i really need to start to think about is the relationship between the images that i have, and how i want the audience to believe. What stance am i going to take?