Those of us who, at the sight of something icky, have intestinal reactions akin to an unbalanced washing machine in the middle of a spin cycle, are a captive, if mesmerized, audience. The result is this unnerving but impressive collection of graphically stark sketches, accompanied by Coe's own journalistic observations. The premise of Dead Meat is quite literal. Coe captures in her sketches a blood-bathed world that is gloomy, dark and surrealistic. Coe's figures have sad, unbelieving eyes and detailed frowns.
Heads hang, tongues hang, limbs hang, carcasses hang.
Those of us who, at the sight of something icky, have intestinal reactions akin to an unbalanced washing machine in the middle of a spin cycle, are a captive, if mesmerized, audience. Dead Meat might easily rank with Mapplethorpe and Madonna as a quick fix for the voyeuristic, but its many layers cannot be tamed by a cursory thumb-through. Coe's drawings are intricate, detailed, and complex. Hectic and crowded slaughterhouse scenes are captured in candid stills, like frames of a film, often with bloody subplots unfolding in the background. Interestingly, the slaughterman casts no shadow on the wall behind him.