Speculative Taxidermy

THIS IS NOT A HORSE239

In the case of It’s Hard to Make a Stand, it is upon the presence of ani-
mal surfaces juxtaposed to those of mass-produced objects that, as Fou-
cault claims, the event passes from work of art to viewer, affecting the
viewer with a force that can enable transformation.^57 The event proposed
by It’s Hard to Make a Stand therefore “transmits and magnifies the [ani-
mal] other, which combines with it and gives rise, for all those who come
to look at it, to an infinite series of new passages.”^58

MAKING A STAND

Through the recovery process involving It’s Hard to Make a Stand, I have
deliberately ignored Steve Bishop’s titling of the piece. In an interview, the
artist humorously explained It’s Hard to Make a Stand as follows: “It was
really hard to make a base for it—that’s where the title comes from. The
stand has a double beveled edge as a nod to public sculpture. It’s like a de-
faced memorial, like when you see a statue of a soldier on a horse and some-
one’s put a traffic cone on its head—what does that gesture stand for?”^59
Bishop’s statement brings attention to the understated wooden stand
that elevates the horse mannequin and simultaneously raises questions
about the literal affirmative value of the fragment “making a stand” con-
tained in the title. As noted by Malt through her analysis of the surrealist
object, one of the most common features and recurring traits of surrealist
objects lies in the “presence of the accouterments of artistic display. Ev-
erywhere are pedestals, frames, glass domes, and display cabinets, as if
the works were declaring their status in relation to the traditional forms of
art.”^60 To Malt, this gesture ultimately belongs to the repertoire of the par-
ody, insistently inscribing the work of art within the ontology of the artis-
tic despite its unassuming appearances.^61 The plinth of It’s Hard to Make a
Stand is one that, as the artist explains, nods to the solid grandeur of the
classical equestrian monument. However, the stand also underlines the
assemblage in a deep, nonaffirmative sense, parodying the cultural sym-
bolization of biopower inscribed in the iconography of the equestrian
monument through the haphazard and amatorial juxtaposition of incon-
gruous material surfaces. Therefore, the stand appears simultaneously al-
luring and disheveled, calculated but precarious. The glistening golden