Emperor Penguin

Artist Mark Dion (American, born 1961)

Date2016

MediumMulti-media: Penguin (polyester), sink bucket, wooden crate, tar, various trinkets and costume jewelry.

Dimensions210 × 90 × 115 cm

ClassificationsSculpture

Credit LineCollection & image © Hugh Lane Gallery. Purchased, 2023. © Mark Dion.

Object number2176

DescriptionEmperor Penguin addresses the themes of climate change and the impact humans have had on wildlife. The Emperor Penguin is the largest of the penguin species and is native to Antarctica. Due to global warming, it is vulnerable as it can only breed on solid ice. Dion present a penguin in a bath of tar covered in trash. The artist points to the destructive abuse of nature: “They’re not just stuffed animals. They’re …covered with tar. So the symbol of violence is very concrete.”
Dion has gained a significant international reputation for his installations filled with objects that he gathers, categorises and displays in the manner of an archaeologist or anthropologist. In Emperor Penguin, he plays with the conventions of museum display by using a shipping crate as the plinth for the sculpture.

On View

On view