saskia baetens

Time Out, 2007
Bronze, edition 1/9
1580 x 750 x 630mm
Price on request

Gazing across the Glass House lake, Time Out invites the viewer into a deceptively simple imaginary world. With elongated ears and paws, a square jaw, petite waist and curvaceous bottom, this creature is quirky and charismatic- a super-sized playful pet. It calls to mind well-known fictional personalities such as Peter Rabbit and Bugs Bunny. 

But Time Out is not a creature of pure fairytale innocence. Half-human, half-animal in character, there is reference to the long history of ‘fantastic beasts’ found in ancient mythologies, which carry more serious and sinister undertones. There is also a nod to the modern day scientific experiments of cross-species breeding and genetic manipulation. 

Originally from Belgium and with training in fine arts and architecture, Baetens speaks of the playful interpretation of identity, understanding of the body, fictionalising its situation and essence: “I seek to add humour to the humanoid form making things as they might be rather than the way we believe they should be.” Specifically, she describes Time Out as “an integration and co-capsulation of a gregarious, burrowing, plant-eating mammal with long ears, long hind legs and a short tail, in and relating to the humanoid form."