Human beings have confronted and in some ways interacted with infrahuman creatures since time immemorial. Our primitive though process was largely shaped through this regular interaction and confrontation with subhuman creatures. Animal painting and other works of art that depict the human otherness are full of metaphorical expressions and that has been a continuing trend through the history of art. Use of animal imagery in paintings is in sharp contrast with the anthropocentric views and philosophies, and the contemporary artists who depict animals as imageries and metaphors in their paintings are some of the most revered creative people of our time. In a way, the expressionist art forms that take cue from the zoological world oppose the westernized idea of human civilization, primarily cantered around cities full of skyscrapers and the degenerated lifestyle of the dwellers. Animal and death painting and other works of art are now easily available on the web and that has made it easier for the average collector to find their favourite artworks without much legwork.

Animal in art: beginning of a merger between culture and nature?
The hybridism of humans and infrahuman life forms is not exclusively practiced by the biotechnologists. There are contemporary animal painting creators who are using animal imageries for so long now and they are the faces of one of the oldest yet recently revived art movements. Roberto Marchesini, the noted Italian philosopher, had pointed out in his research paper that human aesthetics, technologies and languages have been largely shaped by our direct interaction and confrontation with animals. While animals have been depicted time and again in popular culture, many contemporary artists are again embracing the idea of using animal imageries in art. This has reinitiated a fusion between nature and culture. Nature is being depicted in cultural forms and culture is drawing inspiration from nature.

Animal paintings breaking through the ontological barriers
It was Charles Darwin who first established the genetic link between humans and subhuman creatures. However, Darwin’s contemporary artists used animal imageries to express the unknown, the fierce, and the dark aspects of life and world. Modern expressionist artists have broadened their imagination and you can find both human virtues and vices depicted through animal imageries. There are many contemporary artists who depict animals in positive light. This stands in contrast to the European bourgeois vision of animals. During the early 1900, the European society created zoos that separated the human and animal world ontologically, according to John Berger. However, the contemporary artists have successfully broken through the ontological barriers and have depicted animals in their artworks repeatedly.

Different types of animal artworks
Contemporary artworks that are themed on zoological life forms can be broadly classified into four types: animal portraits, animal simulacrums, ritualistic depiction of animals, and depiction of living animals. There are photorealistic and deconstructivist painters who do a lot of experimentation on animal imageries and metaphors.

If you are interested to buy an animal or death painting from the contemporary artists, you should visit the websites of the leading painters.
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