Crown of Contradiction

“Crown of Contradiction”
Mixed Media Sculpture Taxidermy Deer Mount with Recycled Metal Antlers

At first glance, the piece could be mistaken for a traditional trophy mount: the preserved head of a deer, posed in eternal stillness. But it only takes a moment for the illusion to fracture. The antlers, those symbols of wild majesty, growth, and power, are not bone, but welded metal. Cold, rusted, and jagged, they do not grow upward toward the sky. They pierce it.

This sculpture is a collision. Organic meets industrial. Life meets its echo. Memory meets metal. The real hide, with its soft texture and lifelike presence, draws you in gently. You expect warmth, the ghost of breath, the subtle shimmer of a living creature. But above the eyes, the transformation begins. Welded antlers arc into space with brutal elegance, composed of bent rods, fractured machine parts, rusted tools, fragments of forgotten function now repurposed into something primal, proud, and slightly dangerous.

Here, the animal does not wear a crown, it bears a burden. The metal antlers are beautiful, yes, but they are also heavy. Sharp. Alien. And they force the viewer to consider: What have we made of nature? What are we asking it to carry for us?

There’s reverence in the use of real hide, a tribute to the animal’s presence. But there’s also a quiet discomfort. This is not just a celebration of the wild—it is an interrogation. We’ve preserved the body, replaced the growth, and claimed the form. But what have we lost in doing so?

From a distance, the sculpture seems noble, mythic, even. A spirit of the forest reborn through human intervention. But the closer you come, the more uneasy it becomes. You see the rivets. The weld seams. The rust creeping like lichen. You begin to question where reverence ends and possession begins.
Is this a resurrection, or a reimagining? Is it honor, or ownership? Can something be both sacred and salvaged?
“Crown of Contradiction” does not offer comfort. It is not clean. It asks you to confront your relationship with nature, death, and transformation. It asks you to consider the role of art not just as a mirror, but as a medium that repurposes what has ended into something that continues to speak.
It is not just a deer. It is a monument to what remains and a question about what we are building from the wild things we leave behind.