There is a certain joyous playfulness in the sculptures of artist Tasha Lewis (previously), who is currently exhibiting her latest works in her solo show, “Moments of Thaw,” at the Harrison Center in Indianapolis. Though her sculptures look like taxidermied animals at first glance, each piece is actually crafted out of paper, tape and recycled materials, which are held together by powerful magnets. She once gets the form of the animal right, she covers the body with a “skin” of fabric cyanotype images, which have been hand-sewn to one another. Every part of the covering is a photograph made from a digital negative, and some skins are a collage of over 15 different images.

More from her site:

My work for this show explores how sculpture can transition through seemingly impermeable barriers. For the past year I have been creating pieces which use magnets to almost magically connect separate pieces of mixed media sculpture through solid walls. The result is that the natural form— my main muse— appears to be both actively breaking through the enclosure while simultaneously remaining dependent on the solid form to give its body shape. Thus, these animals and plants are arrested during a surge of forward momentum. The ‘thaw’ of the show’s title is the apparent momentary loss of solidity that the glass container, wooden box or plaster wall has experienced which allowed nature to break through.

The exhibit will be on view till January 25, 2013 at the Harrison Center.

Visit her site for more details.

Hit the jump to see more images taken from the show.

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