Alex Impey - Gnostic Cautery

About

Alex Impey is a Glasgow-based artist whose practice ranges from drawing to sculpture and writing. For this solo exhibition at The Hunterian, Impey has made new work in sculpture and video. These works extend an interest in themes of biology and technology that is a consistent feature of his practice.

In -GNOSTIC CAUTERY, the artist has explored these concerns through research into two, seemingly very different, uses of animal bodies. The first of these relates to historical practices in which sheep's livers were interpreted to divine the future.

The exhibition is also informed by much more recent scientific experiments that use cauterisation to damage butterfly pupae and to study its effects on the development of mimetic eyespots on the butterflies’ wings. Impey responds to these precedents in a number of ways, including the casting of animal specimens from The Hunterian’s collection. 

Supported by the Henry Moore Foundation.