The skull as a container for the cosmos — space and small animals visible inside the x-ray, the mind’s interior turned into an actual interior. Craig Keenan‘s skull series treats the head as a landscape to be mapped rather than a portrait to be taken, the x-ray format giving the imagery both a clinical detachment and an absurdist humour that sits at one of the poles of his practice.
Keenan describes his style as wavering between humorous and sinister — A Bit Spacey lands firmly on the humorous side, but the choice of the skull as the vessel for something as expansive as outer space gives the piece a quality beyond pure illustration. The title does exactly what the best of his piece titles do: describes what’s in front of you while suggesting that it’s also saying something else. Limited edition. £120.
