Grant Lingard
Aotearoa New Zealand, b.1961, d.1995
The Collector of Beauty: The Discerning Eye
- 1991
- Mixed media
- Gift of Blair Jackson and Kim Macintosh, 2021
- 330 x 250mm
- 2021/184.a-c
Tags: blue (color), cosmetics, insects, jars
Presented like a trophy for our enjoyment and inspection, the tin butterfly trapped in this large glass jar suggests the ephemerality of attraction; what was once natural, captivating and beautiful soon begins to fade when deprived of its freedom. Above it, in a panel painted with shimmering blue eye shadow, another kind of beauty – synthetic and superficial, but perhaps equally seductive – is preserved .
Exhibition History
Presented like a trophy for our enjoyment and inspection, the tin butterfly trapped in this large glass jar suggests the ephemerality of attraction; what was once natural, captivating and beautiful soon begins to fade when deprived of its freedom. Above it, in a panel painted with shimmering blue eye shadow, another kind of beauty – synthetic and superficial, but perhaps equally seductive – is preserved.