PR: Tara Sellios | Ask Now the Beasts

Ask Now the Beasts weaves together art historical, literary and biblical references to create Tara Sellios’s vision of an apocalyptic world. Sellios’s highly detailed still life photographs capture the beauty of the grotesque as skeletons fly, insects swarm, and dried flowers dance. The photographs of Ask Now the Beasts are contemporary allegories of suffering and transcendence which share the Apocalypse as their metaphorical foundation. Through allusions to a variety of sources and her unique materials, Sellios deploys both dark humor and empathy in her poignant observations about the human condition and the complexities of religious extremism.

The exhibition and the series title, Ask Now the Beasts is derived from the biblical Book of Job (Job 12:7) but draws equally from the Book of Revelation. Combining poetry and prose, the Book of Revelation is known for its vivid imagery including a metaphorical grape harvest reaped by angels. Previously, Sellios’s work has focused on elaborate banquets and bloody excess. Ask Now the Beasts presents the moment when the feast is over—the wine has dried up and the flesh has turned to dust.

Sellios is fascinated by art historical representations of the end of the world, particularly the bizarre and otherworldly imagery of artists like Hieronymus Bosch and Albrecht Dürer. Sellios also draws from 17th-century still life painting, specifically Dutch vanitas paintings. Catholic imagery is also a rich source of inspiration for Sellios, particularly its dramatic lighting, seductive surfaces, and contorted gestures which are all present in Ask Now the Beasts. Additionally, Sellios engages with the history of allegorical paintings. Like her historical precedents, Sellios delights in detail and complex symbolism.

Tara Sellios, Abundantia from the series Ask Now the Beasts, 2023. Inkjet print from 8 X 10 inch negative, 40 X 26 inches. Courtesy of the Artist.

Sellios’s imagery is rooted in an elaborate interdisciplinary studio practice which combines elements of drawing, painting, sculpture, installation, and photography. Her work begins as an idea developed through rigorous research that becomes painted sketches that are the foundation for her still life vignettes.

To create her sculptural still lifes, Sellios collects specimens from all over the world, including animal skeletons, dried flowers and plants, and insects. Once she sources her materials, Sellios carefully constructs the vision from her sketch, placing each element by hand, using wires, pins and glue to create the illusion of objects suspended in the air.

When her still lifes are complete Sellios photographs them using only the natural light of her studio with her large format 8” x 10” view camera. In post-production Sellios removes the visual traces of her armatures, eliminating the wire supports from her compositions. The use of a large format camera enables Sellios to print at a scale that makes all the intricate details of her compositions visible.

This exhibition is the first presentation of Ask Now the Beasts, and the artist’s first museum solo exhibition, marking a new period in Sellios’s work. Biblically, the Apocalypse signifies the end of days, however, Sellios’s envisions death and destruction as a new beginning. Devastation and hope, darkness and light, life and decay all live together in Sellios’s work as they do in life.

This exhibition was organized by FAM Curator Emily Mazzola and FAM’s Terry and Eva Herndon Assistant Curator Sarah Harper.

Tara Sellios, Ascendo from the series Ask Now the Beasts, 2023 inkjet print from 8 x 10 inch negative. Courtesy of the Artist.

Tara Sellios, Subtero from the series Ask Now the Beasts, 2023, inkjet print from 8 x 10 inch negative. Courtesy of the Artist.