Artist 31: Tessa Farmer

I just discovered this artist today. She's from Birmingham, UK and based in London. She received he BA in 2000 and MA in 2003. She received the Times/The South Bank Show Breakthrough award in 2007, and took up residency at the Natural History Museum in London. She has also also been featured in several exhibits in the UK.

Tessa is a sculptor, but far from anything close to traditional. She works with dead insects and polymer clay to create insanely intricate and detail miniature sculptures, featuring fairies as a common subject. These aren't the typical fairies that you would see in a Disney movie meant for small children, they are more like hell spawn that ate Tinkerbell and devoured Wendy as a side dish. Each figure is less than a centimeter tall, so it would take a lot of them to accomplish such a feat. So, next time you say "I do believe in fairies", think twice.

Her work often takes up an entire room when being displayed. Knowing that each fairy is nearly microscopic, you can imagine how many of them are needed to fill a room. These installment don't just consist of the fairies, but dead insects, leaves, and tree roots, staging apocalyptic scenes on a nano scale.

I know you must be dying to see what this all looks like, so here are some pictures!

"Swarm" detail


"Dead"


Many of you know that I work with bones in some of my art. Farmer's work only inspires me to take the used of animal remains further and strike more fear into the hearts of my viewers. I think an exoskeleton made of insect...... exoskeletons would be interesting.