Dana Meyer’s series of works entitled South Pacific Expedition makes a strange impression. The shimmering shells and the jumble of legs and antennae create the impression of a natural history collection whose insect specimens seem to come from distant regions. The finely crafted sculptures are cold-formed from thin sheet steel and presented in preserving jars. The creatures appear deceptively real and at the same time their strange appearance is astonishing. Meyer’s South Pacific Expedition offers the viewer the opportunity to imagine an exploration expedition 100 years ago and at the same time this series of works defies exact classification; the boundaries between nature, literature and art, reality and fantasy become blurred.
The South Pacific Expedition makes it possible to believe that these “former paradises” were once populated by fascinating creepy-crawlies and that the last remaining relics of them have survived in Meyer’s insect collection. The preserved dreams can be retrieved at any time – a cursory glance into one of the many preserving jars is enough.
