A BEAUTIFUL & BIZARRE TAXIDERMY SHOWCASE - ONE NIGHT ONLY
In the 1800s, taxidermy was displayed at world expos to engage the public in wonder and curiosity. Wunderkammer carries this tradition forward, but with a focus on modern values of sustainability, inclusivity, and imagination.
Join us as the nations most innovative taxidermy artists fill you with awe and wonder as they showcase their most creative creatures in a showcase that awards the beautiful and bizarre. A cabinet of curiosities come to life!
Celebrate the art and science of taxidermy with your hosts for the night Justin Fornal, the Science Channel star and Explorer’s Club culinary ambassador notorious for his wild game dinners, and Divya Anantharaman, NYC’s premiere taxidermist, world traveling educator, and star of the award winning documentary "Rearranging Skin". We have an all star judging panel, including Kate Clark, Ave Rose, Robert Marbury, and George Dante!
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ARTISTS-Interested in showing your work? CLICK HERE for our rules and submission!
Guests are encouraged to dress for the occasion!
All ticketed guests receive a gift at the door, sponsored by Bazaar Baltimore
PRE-SALE ticket holders are entered in a raffle to win taxidermy mounts, taxidermy classes, and a prize bundle from Morbid Anatomy, and much more!
In addition to taxidermy, the evenings festivities will include-
Drinks by Liquid Death! And other curious cocktails
Wildlife Conservation!
Special appearance by Taxidermy Auction!
Ritual Sideshow Performance by The No Ring Circus!
Beautiful and Bizarre Drag!
Keynote Artist Presentation!
Taxidermy resources for those inspired to learn taxidermy on their own!
This event is mixed seating and standing. The Bell House NYC is wheelchair accessible. If you require additional accommodations, please contact us at nyc.wunderkammer@gmail.com.
Wunderkammer Logo design by Erika Harada
INTERESTED?
The Bell House is located at
149 7th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11215
October 26, 2023 7-11pm
Doors 7pm/Show 8pm
Tickets $15 advance/$20 door
MEET THE HOSTS AND JUDGES
HOST, ADAM BASHIAN
JUDGE, RYAN MATTHEW COHN & REGINA MARIE COHN
HOST, DIVYA ANANTHARAMAN
Broadway actor and collector Adam Bashian is the face behind the popular Instagram shop “Dark Interiors” which deals in a wide variety of hand sourced antiques, oddities, and artifacts from around the globe. His vast private collection, focuses on historical natural history, antique art, and of course taxidermy. As a performer, he’s been seen in various Broadway shows including The Phantom of the Opera, and is the resident Santa Claus in the famous Radio City Christmas Spectacular. You may also remember him from his brief cameo in the popular TV show Oddities.
HOST, DIVYA ANANTHARAMAN
JUDGE, RYAN MATTHEW COHN & REGINA MARIE COHN
HOST, DIVYA ANANTHARAMAN
A unique combination of science and style, Divya Anantharaman is New York City's premiere taxidermist. An award winning licensed professional preserving animals with honor and compassion for clients ranging from museums, high end designers, gallerists, and collectors. Her specialties are birds, small mammals, and anatomic anomalies, with a select number of commissions open for pets. Her work seeks to combine the demonstrative aspect of scientific presentation with the symbolic, introspective nature of art, using taxidermy to engage diverse audiences with conservation. She is passionately curious about the untapped potential of this scientific art.
She left the corporate fashion industry to pursue her love of natural history as the resident taxidermist at the Morbid Anatomy Museum, and has since built a following creating taxidermy, skeletal, and entomology displays, along with jewelry and wearable art, for anyone who finds wonder in the natural world. In addition to running her own business, she works part time at the esteemed studio of George Dante, which specializes in museum taxidermy and historic conservation. Here, her passion for nature grows through helping preserve animals and exhibits for future generations.
She has recently been featured in the award winning documentary "Rearranging Skin" highlighting the changing face of taxidermy as the artform evolves with our modern world.
JUDGE, RYAN MATTHEW COHN & REGINA MARIE COHN
JUDGE, RYAN MATTHEW COHN & REGINA MARIE COHN
JUDGE, RYAN MATTHEW COHN & REGINA MARIE COHN
Ryan Matthew Cohn is best known for his educated opinions and consultation on the Science Channel show "Oddities." However, it is Ryan’s ability to prepare, create, craft, and provide unparalleled attention to detail in this subject matter that makes him a true artisan. It’s his stunning preparations, which have helped him in beginning to solidify a place in the fine art world. Ryan’s unique approach to the exploded skull has pushed his career from exploration and learning to create unique fine art commissions. Aside from his artistic accolades, Ryan specializes in rare and unique antiques and artifacts predominantly relating to science, anatomy, and natural history.
With an extensive background in fashion, Regina Marie Cohn runs the Oddities Flea Market, curates events at Brooklyn’s House of Wax Bar, and works with her husband Ryan buying, creating, restoring, and selling one-of-a-kind pieces of osteological work, antiques and oddities. Regina’s eye for the strange and unusual brings the Oddities Flea Market to lifes. We are so excited to have their perspective and comprehensive expertise on our judging panel!
https://theodditiesfleamarket.com/about
JUDGE, GEORGE A. DANTE JR.
JUDGE, GEORGE A. DANTE JR.
JUDGE, RYAN MATTHEW COHN & REGINA MARIE COHN
George Dante has more than 36 years of experience as a taxidermist, sculptor,
model maker, illustrator and fine artist. He has been a field naturalist his entire
life and formed Wildlife Preservations while in high school. George continued to
develop his company while obtaining a Bachelor of Arts from the School of Visual
Arts in New York and today the company is a world-class provider of natural
history exhibit services. Their work has been recognized in media outlets such as
the New York Times, New York Post, Chicago Sun Times, National Geographic
Magazine, Popular Mechanics, Good Morning America, Martha Stewart Living,
NPR, Scientific American, Atlas Obscura, Popular Science, Treasures of New
York, National Geographic Explorer, and more.
Recently George and his team have also become recognized as leaders in the
restoration and conservation of older taxidermy and museum dioramas. His work
continues to advance the way collections are restored by bridging the gap
between classical taxidermy and fine art conservation.
In addition to being the recipient of numerous awards, George is also served
many years an NTA certified judge and instructor with several publications in his
field. His clients include some of the most prestigious institutions and
organizations in the world, such as the American Museum of Natural History, The
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Harvard University, The Field
Museum, National Geographic, Oxford University, US Fish & Wildlife Service,
and more.
JUDGE, KATE CLARK
JUDGE, GEORGE A. DANTE JR.
JUDGE, ROBERT MARBURY
Kate Clark is a sculptor who lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Her hybrid sculptures synthesize the human face and the body of wild animals. Her fusion of human and animal creates a fiction that suggest that our humanity is fully realized when we acknowledge not only our current programming but also our natural instincts. Kate had her first solo exhibit at Claire Oliver Gallery in New York in 2008. Since then she has been exhibited in solo museum exhibitions at the Mobile Museum of Art, The Newcomb Art Museum and the Hilliard Museum and in group museum exhibitions at the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, The Islip Art Museum, and The Bellevue Arts Museum, MOFA: Florida State University, Cranbrook Art Museum, Frist Center for the Visual Arts, The Winnepeg Art Gallery, the Glenbow Museum, the Musée de la Halle Saint Pierre, Paris, The Art Gallery at Cleveland State University, the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, the Nevada Museum of Art, the David Winton Bell Gallery at Brown University, the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, the Biggs Museum of American Art, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, and the J. Paul Getty Museum. Her work is collected internationally and is in public collections such as the JP Morgan Chase Art Collection, the 21c Collection, the David Roberts Art Foundation in London, the Cranbrook Museum, and the C-Collection in Switzerland. Clark’s sculptures have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, New York Magazine, Art21:Blog, The Village Voice, PAPERmag, The Atlantic, Hyperallergic, NYArts, Huffington Post, Hi Fructose, the BBC World News Brazil, Hey! Magazine, Time Out, ID Paris, Cool Hunting, Wallpaper, Creators Project/VICE, Sculpture Review and many other publications. Kate’s work is the cover image for Art ltd. magazine, November/December 2014. Kate was filmed by National Geographic in her studio over a 2 month period for a short documentary about her work.
JUDGE, ROBERT MARBURY
JUDGE, GEORGE A. DANTE JR.
JUDGE, ROBERT MARBURY
Robert Marbury is a multi-disciplinary artist working in fabric, photography, and fur. He is a co-founder of the Minnesota Association of Rogue Taxidermists and lectures internationally about alternative taxidermy. He has developed his Urban Beast Project since 2000 in order to investigate the ferine nature of animals and their interaction with humans in the urban environment. Robert has played a drape in John Waters' Crybaby, been held up by pirates in Indonesia, and served as the Public Arts Chair on the Minneapolis Arts Commission. He was a regular judge at the annual Carnivorous Night's Taxidermy Contest. His work has received support from the Aljira Contemporary Art Center in Newark, NJ; the CAFKA Public Art Forum in Ontario, Canada; the Minnesota State Arts Board; and the NEA Artist Initiative Grant. In 2007, Robert was included as one of the “stray dogs of contemporary art” in Charley 05, edited by Maurizio Cattelan, Massimiliano Gioni, and Ali Subotnick. Robert earned his B.A. from Connecticut College and a Post-Bac from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. He currently lives and works in Baltimore, MD. Taxidermy Art: A Rogue's Guide to the Work, the Culture, and How to Do It Yourself is Robert's first book.