Alice Neel in Animals & Us at Turner Contemporary

The exhibition (25 May–30 September 2018) explores artists’ reflections on the relationship between humans and other animals.

At a time when scientists warn that humans may be causing the sixth mass extinction on earth, how do we see and relate to other animals?

Focusing on contemporary and 20th century artists and including historical artworks and artefacts, Animals & Us explores our lives and encounters with animals, and how these have been reflected in art.

Animals painted in prehistoric caves were the first subjects of art, reflecting our closeness to them. The artworks in this exhibition explore both our closeness and distance to animals, from our relationships with our pets, to zoos and animals as food.

Artists are using animal symbolism and creating human-animal hybrids. They are staging animal encounters, investigating animal intelligence, and questioning the human-animal divide.

Installed across all Turner Contemporary’s first floor galleries, Animals & Us encompasses a wide range of media, from painting and sculpture to video and installation. Drawing on subjects from biology and evolution, to anthropology and technology, it asks questions about how we relate to or differentiate ourselves from other living beings.

Artists featured include: Keith Arnatt, Joseph Beuys, Marc Chagall, Marcus Coates, Mark Dion, Charlotte Dumas, Tracey Emin, Barry Flanagan, Laura Ford, Lucian Freud, Henri Gaudier Brzeska, Mishka Henner, Candida Höfer, Andy Holden, Marguerite Humeau, Kiluanji Kia Henda, Permindar Kaur, Alice Neel, Kananginak Pootoogook, Stephanie Quayle, Paula Rego, Michal Rovner, Khvay Samnang, Roelandt Savery, Raqib Shaw, Shimabuku, Gilbert Soest, George Stubbs, Andy Warhol, William Wegman, JMW Turner

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Image: Alice Neel, Richard with Dog, 1954