The Butcher. 2023. 9’ x 8’ x 3’.
Plywood, maple, mahogany, redwood, douglas fir, steel, hardware, acrylic, Climax meat grinders, CPR manikin face shields, vintage meat hook, foam peaches, silicone, ammunition.
All My Delight
Mad Luellen
12.16.2023-2.1.2024
There are two characters.
One sculpture, one drawing -
The Butcher and The Gatekeeper.
Both are Frankenstein’s monsters, cyborgs, humanoid hybrids.
Part man, part object.
The Butcher is a sculpture,
nine feet tall by eight feet wide.
He has six meat grinder heads,
and six feet, four of which are hooves.
His legs are on fire, and his arms are aflame.
His tools hang from sharpened meat hooks.
Is he the hunter or the hunted?
Buck shot speckles his ass, and his chest is carved through with keyholes.
A drawer in front of him holds a beefy heart impaled by a massive nail.
Is it his own or another’s?
The Gatekeeper is a drawing,
eight feet tall by seven feet wide.
His crown is a wrought iron fence,
his eyes and mouth are locks, and his fingers are keys.
His uniform is iridescent chainmail,
save for an erupting volcano in his chest.
Loose wires dangle from the red phone in his hand.
Is he the one giving orders or taking them?
He sits atop a locked safe,
yet the door to the birdcage is wide open.
What has escaped?
Mad Luellen holds a BFA from The Cooper Union and an MFA from Stanford University. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles.