Artist’s Stuffed Fox Exercises Local Politicians

By Galina Stolyarova

The St. Petersburg Times

Published: April 3, 2013 (Issue # 1753)

Adele Morse The work of British artist Adele Morse has come under fire by local politicians.

A group of St. Petersburg politicians, led by Vitaly Milonov, the United Russia lawmaker at the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly and the godfather of the infamous law against gay propaganda, has launched a crusade against a three-day exhibition by the British artist Adele Morse that is due to open at Geometria Cafe today.

The tireless parliamentarian Milonov has this time gained support from members of the Communists of St. Petersburg party, who have become enraged over Morse’s art.

 At the heart of the controversy is a stuffed fox that the artist, whose work often involves animal images, made as part of an art project. 

According to the curators of the exhibition at Geometria Cafe, Morse will stay in St. Petersburg from April 3 through 5, and will also give lectures about creating internet memes, take part in an autograph signing and attend a party at Geometria Cafe. The artist will also be making a documentary about her visit to the city, which will involve an excursion to visit the foxes at the local zoo, according to the project’s Russian curators.

The protests against Morse’s Russian trip began even before the artist had finalized her decision to come to the country.

“This artist is traveling around with a work of art that shows Vladimir Lenin next to a very questionable character – a bizarre-looking fox; in other versions the fox sits next to the modern leaders of Russia,” complained Sergei Malinkovich, leader of the Communists of St. Petersburg party. “The fox appears next to prominent politicians of different eras, from Joseph Stalin to Barack Obama. Serving as the backdrop for the fox are collages inspired by the sobering realities of the life in the Soviet Union. Adele Morse is ridiculing the country; she is mocking our national interests.”

 Milonov took the Communists’ bewilderment further, suggesting that the artist is a “callous and mentally unstable person.”

 “No sane individual would organize a display like this; normal people could not bear to look at a maimed stuffed animal,” Milonov said. “If we do not stop this, the next step will be a stuffed human being exposed to the others as an art object.”

In her blog, Adele Morse responded to the critics, whom she said had got some of the facts about her art wrong.

“Anyone who knows me or my work well enough is aware that I have been a vegetarian for over 10 years and almost all of my work involves animals in some way. NEVER in a negative way,” the artist stressed on her blog over the weekend.

“I do not personally feel I have the right to take another animal’s life, whether it be a human, a dog, a cow or a fox. I have never nor will I ever kill an animal for use within my taxidermy.  I believe that everyone is entitled to their opinion and I think it important for people to set themselves their own boundaries, However I will stand by the importance of taxidermy in our society as a means of preservation,” said Morse.

“As for the political side of things, I want to remind people that I personally have yet to make a [Russian] meme or photo collage. I don’t feel I know enough about what it’s like to live in Russia to go around blindly making political memes that will offend,” the artist said.