Los Angeles native Elizabeth McGrath is well known for her fantastical hybrid creatures. A leading figure of the “Pop Surrealist” movement, McGrath crafts anthropomorphized animals, some bearing windows into their own built-in abdominal cabinet-of-curiosities, others whimsically forlorn set into stage-like wall-mounted vignettes, along with tattooed hunting trophies, and freestanding pseudo-taxidermy. The more recent works, such as The Folly of St. Hubertus (2010), move beyond the artist’s steampunk roots, instead evoking notions of the mysticism and devotion often associated with medieval reliquaries.
Incurable Disorder is McGrath’s second publication with Last Gasp Books, and introduces the artist’s work through McGrath’s own words and those closest to her, husband Morgan Slade; friend and longtime New York gallerist Alix Sloan; and an epilogue by best-friend Winter Rosebudd Mullender. Each offers a look into their relationship to the artist and her work, describing haunting childhood memories, the plight of the armadillo, and headless bear suits, respectively. However, what speaks loudest is the imagery of McGrath’s work. Unlike the inaugural Everything that Creeps, which set the tone with antiqued backgrounds, the works are set against stark white, mimicking the austerity of a gallery setting. A mini-retrospective of sorts, the chapters are grouped non-chronologically into categories with titles corresponding to McGrath’s previous exhibitions, “Tears of the Crocodile” (2008), “Altarwise by Owl-Light” (2006), “Incurable Disorder” (2007), and so forth. The opening spread sets the stage for what lies within each, with a quote from authors ranging from the 19th-century English Romantic “Lake Poet” Robert Southey (though the phrase “Crocodile tears” seems to equally reference George Chapman’s earlier use, I will neither yield to the song of the siren nor the voice of the hyena, the tears of the crocodile nor the howling of the wolf) to the lamentation on language by Clint Catalyst, the pseudonym of a contemporary author/artist introducing the title chapter. Throughout, the book presents single works, some placed next to details that peer into incised interior views—though unfortunately all identification of the over 100 works is listed solely at the end. Among the most visceral images are the installation views of McGrath’s past exhibitions. Through these photographs the work comes to life, and the imaged paths the reader can take through the sculptural installations allows a vicarious experience of these ephemeral worlds.
Originally published in Hi-Fructose magazine (July 2013).