This is ‘Ecce Animal’, human skull/coke head made from cocaine and gelatin compressed into a mold by artist Diddo. The piece is supposed to “speak to human nature and self control”.
Once we were animals.Like any other, we lived in an environment of fear and want. Then, we became ‘human’ and aspired to be better. We learned to control our environment but the fear stayed, because we never learned to control ourselves.
It is frightening to look at the face of our animal side laid bare by comfortable excess; the spoils of its aggression.
But what exactly is it about this image that is so confronting? Is it this division in our idea of self? Or is it a realization that though we have mastered the outside world, we will always remain subservient to our inner selves.
I mean I get it, but you you still made a skull out of cocaine, bro. No pile of cocaine should come with a poem that’s supposed to be meaningful. Also, when I went to the artist’s site for more info I discovered the piece was made from “street sourced” cocaine and was a commissioned piece, leading me to believe it was made for somebody who just couldn’t find a dealer. “I’ll see if I can’t trick an artist into getting me some,” I imagine them saying with a light bulb over their head.
