The Butcher Boys
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Butcher Boys (1985/1986) is a sculpture made by South African artist Jane Alexander of three, life-size, oil-painted plaster figures with animal horn and bone details, seated on a bench. The work formed part of her MAFA submission (University of the Witwatersrand) and was first exhibited at the Market Theatre Gallery in Johannesburg in 1986. It was acquired by the South African National Gallery in 1991. The work was a response to the state of emergency in South Africa at the time.
The work consists of three life-size humanoid beasts with powdery skin, black eyes, broken horns, and no mouths sitting on a bench. The beasts are devoid of their outside senses - their ears are nothing more than deep gorges in their heads and their mouths are missing, appearing to be covered with thick roughened skin.
Brett Bailey's Plays of Miracle and Wonder was published with a cover photograph showing three men posed after Jane Alexander's Butcher Boys sculpture.
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