Taylor Moon Castagnari

• Bird Filter Taylor Moon Castagnari Digital Illustration Printed on Metal ​ The advent of social media filters has altered our understanding of the true physical context of a subject in relation to the edited or artificially augmented environment, enabling one to choose the reality one prefers. In the illustration, Bird Filter, Moon depicted a Kingfisher with various filter gallery selections applied to it. The filters were given names, such as “Industrial Pollution,” “Car Window Collision,” “Agricultural Run-Off,” “River Contamination,” “Global Warming,” and “Human Disturbance,” as these are each variables that cause Kingfisher deaths. This work is derived from the original natural history print by Francois Nicolas Martinet of the Common Kingfisher and is mutually inspired by John James Audubon’s “Belted Kingfisher.”
• Adding a pop-art twist to an antique owl print, Moon illustrates an owl-shaped pillow and a collectible owl action figure. Both of these products are inspired by contemporary toys and merchandise. These toys point to the human desire to own, subdue, and collect both things and animals. Though the toy bears the likeness of a lovable animal, mass toy production, itself, has detrimental impacts on the global environment and the animals that inhabit it. Packaging of consumerist goods has a short ‘in-use’ life span. Billions of tons of trash have been generated over the past decades. This work is derived from the original natural history print by John James Audubon entitled, “Barn Owl.” While Audubon’s print shows two owls feeding on a chipmunk in the wild, the illustration I recreated contrastingly portrays two plush-owl toys in a domestic context. Thus, the idea of the owl and the nature of the animal are juxtaposed.
• Prior to the invention of the camera, journaling, plein air painting and outdoor illustration were the primary means of documenting nature. Creating a contemporary parallel with the former practice, Moon portrays an iPad housing her illustration, complete with a drawing software application and stylus. While using animal patterns is nothing new to popular culture, Moon wanted to emphasize how animal likenesses are being commercialized in the modern age. She simplifies the idea of the tufted cormorant into an art deco wallpaper pattern. This modern day print is inspired by John James Audubon’s antique print entitled, “Double-Crested Cormorant.”
• Moon digitally illustrates the Bald Eagle, which has been a symbol of American identity as the national bird, in the form of a lego statue. While the present day legos are free from lead, vintage legos can contain lead, arsenic and cadmium. As of 2022, researchers discovered that 46% of bald eagles had chronic lead poisoning. The bald eagle ingests parts of lead bullet fragments used in hunting. Lead devastates the eagle’s nervous system and can cause seizures, brain damage, weakness, anemia, organ failure, and even death. The lego is also symbolic of building, creation, and construction. The bald eagle was considered critically endangered in the mid-1900s due to habitat destruction and degradation. Thus, the lego seems to be a suitable medium to portray the bald eagle, as human development and building was a primary cause of the bird’s severe population loss. Moon’s print is inspired by John James Audubon’s “White-headed Eagle.”
• Feeding birds creates artificially high populations that cannot be supported by their natural habitats and causes disruption within the food chains. Moreover, feeding birds results in pollution, the spread of disease, and delayed migration. Birds, like humans, can also be prone to obesity. The concept of the ballooning, or bloated stomach, led me to illustrate the Summer Tanager as an inflatable balloon. This also creates a pop-art effect. Red is a color that stimulates the senses, including those directly tied with one's appetite. Thus, it is frequently seen in the branding of fast food establishments. Red is also associated with warnings for its ability to grab attention. This work is inspired by John James Audubon's Summer Red Bird.
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