Though wildlife is their primary subject matter, painter Sage Vaughn (Hi-Fructose Vol. 26) and photographer Michael Muller approach representing nature in radically different ways. Muller’s striking, close-up shots of sharks, lions, wolves and other dangerous predators not only captivate viewers on an aesthetic level, but are also shocking for the photographer’s audacity to apprehend these creatures in their natural environments. Sage Vaughn’s work is perhaps on the other side of the coin of Muller’s raw documentation. Vaughn instead arranges species of birds and butterflies like delicate ornaments, focusing on these animals’ visual qualities rather than their biological ones. The two artists collaborated on a body of work in 2011 and have returned with a new collaborative series of painted photographs titled “Kingdom” currently on view at The Outsiders Newcastle. These collaborations bring out similarities between Vaughn and Muller’s work, making their styles seem more complementary than dualistic. Take a look at some of the works in “Kingdom,” images courtesy of Lazarides, and see the exhibition at The Outsiders through June 15.
