Insecta Fantasia
November 5, 2008 – June 14, 2009
Newark Museum
For Insecta Fantasia, artist Jennifer Angus creates installations composed of thousands of preserved insects pinned directly to the gallery walls in repeating patterns that reference both textiles and wallpaper. Her work is influenced by the Victorian era and evokes the Victorian aesthetic of taste, clutter and exotica during a period when travel, exploration and scientific study were immensely popular.
Angus’ installation was viewed in the Ballantine House, the Museum’s restored nineteenth-century Victorian mansion. The artist created a fictitious history of the Ballantines in which two family members were amateur entomologists.
Visitors delighted in seeing exotic insects arranged in kaleidoscopic patterns and fairy-tale scenes. (Description from the website of Newark Museum)