UW-Madison art student Tera Goldberg was elated upon finishing her latest piece of conceptual art, a fractured kitten skull attached to a piece of corrugated cardboard.
The work, which will be displayed in the upcoming show, Animals!\, 734 University Gallery, has been called one of Goldberg's finest.
""To me, this piece just shows just to what extent art is seduction,"" Goldberg said. ""Art can be anything. We use art. Art is a toothpaste tube.""
""The Mona Lisa is a total piece of shit,"" she added.
Goldberg commenced work on the piece three days before the show, when she impulsively purchased the kitten from a local pet store. She named him Thor. Upon realizing her project was due in a matter of days and she did not have enough money to feed the creature for a week, Goldberg came up with an unconventional solution.
""I had a ball peen hammer laying around from that time I tried to nail Jello to an Oldsmobile,"" Goldberg said. ""That piece was about futility.""
After dispatching the kitten, Goldberg boiled the skull in the Ogg Hall kitchen to remove skin, fur and gristle before using Elmer's glue to attach the pieces to a cardboard box she had used to move in at the beginning of the year.
Goldberg's previous pieces have included a toy dinosaur partially submerged in a container of cottage cheese, a peanut butter jar full of back hair and wilting daisy petals glued to the inside of a hard drive, a gift from Goldberg's parents to facilitate schoolwork. All have met with much critical acclaim.
Goldberg's work has additionally been hailed by her boyfriend, half of her classmates and three male art TAs at a grad student party the 19-year-old Goldberg was admitted to because of her age and gender.
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