In the work that Van Braak has created for Lustwarande 15, Elephant (2015), he directly addresses an important social issue, the poaching of exotic animals and the risk of extinction. The sculpture is made of recycled teakwood and produced by hand in close collaboration with Balinese wood carvers. Unlike earlier work by Van Braak, this confrontational sculpture leaves no doubt about the work’s back ground with the missing tusks as the most obvious evidence. It is an outspoken commentary on poaching and, more generally, on a society that stands by and watches.
The depiction of the animal is also intertwined with the history of the 18th-century park during the Baroque era, the import of exotica, including elephants, became fashionable in Europe. Baroque gardens were the perfect setting for presenting exotic creatures and emphasising the owner’s wealth The combination of the sophisticated technique of the wood carving art that is often labelled as “kitsch” in the western art world and a very emotionally charged subject, which is far from kitsch and lends the carving an explosive force, makes Van Braak’s Elephant a work that is as hard-hitting as it is sensitive.
http://kevinvanbraak.com/
http://www.fundamentfoundation.nl/
