Deformities. Decimation. Beauty.
Brandon Ballengee and Daniel McCormick are two artist/biologists who are not only concerned about aquatic populations, they are actively engaged in restoring these populations.
For decades Ballengée has been collecting deformed frogs, reptiles and amphibians in water ways that are dispersed throughout the world. Often his goal is to identify and document the deformities of their bodies. The ‘Malamp Project’, initiated in the late 1990s, brings public attention to this rampant trend and the extent to which our environment is being disrupted.
McCormick is dedicated to salmon populations that, despite the 50 million-year-long existence of salmon on Earth, are currently being decimated. His interventions resemble rescue missions more than celebrations. McCormick's sculptures restore waterways so that they provide the conditions that salmon require to survive as they hatch, mature, and reproduce.
These artists demonstrate the numerous aquatic species that are being afflicted by disruptions in habitat. Large scale problems are the result of oil spills, land development, and global warming. These disturbances are compounded by medium-scaled interferences from ranching, farming, and tourism. And these are exacerbated by domestically scaled behaviors such as paving driveways and fertilizing lawns.
Humans also benefit as the direct recipients of Ballengee’s and McCormick’s eco art actions. Besides exhibiting evidence of their field projects in galleries, both artists expand their art practices by inviting the public to participate in their interactions outdoors. It is through such direct contact that contemporary human beings might connect with their ecosystems in a manner that is investigative and nurturing, instead of recreational and destructive. Direct encounters with dying salmon fry, eyeless prawns, frogs with mismatched limbs sensitize people to the plight of these creatures and the urgent need for reform and remediation.
What do these artists share? Despite the fact that Ballengee’s manipulations are with aquatic organisms and McCormick’s manipulations focus on aquatic habitats, the have much in common:
Both Ballengee’s and McCormick’s artistry feature habitats and their living species. These acts of generous divert art from self expression or self fulfillment.
Both gather information experientially, not through body-enhancing tools or virtualizing technologies.
Both direct their creativity to the influence of the past upon the present and the consequences of the present upon the future .
Both are engaged in a delicate form of empiricism in which wind, water, temperature, and living entities continue their work’s evolution.
Both produce artworks that are ‘beautiful’, despite the fact that their primary concerns are with remediation and restoration. Their works manifest harmony, balance, grace, and visual richness.