The book's title derives from The Pancha Tantra, an ancient Indian book of animal tales considered the precursor to Aesop's Fables. The beasts and birds populating this contemporary artist's life-size paintings are never mere objects, but dynamic actors in allegorical struggles: a wild turkey crushes a small parrot in its claw a troupe of monkeys wreak havoc on a formal dinner table, an American buffalo is surrounded by bloodied white wolves. But a closer look reveals a complex and disturbingly anthropomorphic universe, full of symbols, sly jokes, and allusions to the 'operatic' nature of traditional natural history themes. At first glance, Walton Ford's large-scale, highly-detailed watercolors of animals may recall the prints of 19th century illustrators John James Audubon and Edward Lear, and others of the colonial era. The sinister majesty of Walton Ford's wildlife. Unfortunately without the original dustjacket. Köln, Taschen, 2009 Bound, hardcover, no dustjacket, 320pp., 29x38.5cm., richly illustr.
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