For Immediate Release: 22 June 2007
22 June 2007, Hartford, Conn. – Friends of Animals held a lively protest on Thursday 21 June, outside Real Art Ways, for the opening of “Animal-Spirit-Machine” by artist Jordan Eagles, whose medium of choice is mammal blood, obtained from slaughterhouses.
“I don’t think he would use the blood of a human murder victim,” said Nancy Rice, Outreach Coordinator for Friends of Animals, interviewed for WTIC TV by Fox’s Tom Benemann. “That would offend a lot of people, and quite frankly, this offends us.”
FoA activists passed out leaflets questioning the exhibit, stirring vigorous discussions. One visitor declined to enter the gallery after listening to FoA’s viewpoint. The protest also attracted coverage from the Hartford Courant.
On the Real Art Ways website, Eagles describes slaughtered animals’ blood as “the fluid of life.” Absent is any discussion of how the fluid was derived from an act that took that very life away, or any challenge to the business of processing living flesh into items that entertain people – whether on dinner tables or the walls of galleries.
Friends of Animals wrote to Jordan Eagles to open such a discussion. Eagles promptly responded, rejecting the idea that the work is at all disrespectful. And this is not shocking. For Jordan Eagles, like most people, consumes other animals.
Everyone at Friends of Animals once did the same. We have grown and changed, and experienced rebirth of our own bodies and spirits. We challenge Jordan Eagles and those who appreciate art to also appreciate life in a new way: consider a palette of peace.
The “Animal-Spirit-Machine” will appear at Real Art Ways Gallery, 56 Arbor St., Hartford, Connecticut for the next three weeks (Thu. 21 June – Sun. 15 July).
The contact information for Jordan Eagles is public: jordan@jordaneagles.com or 917.656.2535.