Just before reaching the Kate MacGarry gallery in London to see Marcus Coates show, there is The Last Tuesday Society : a taxidermy boutique filled with skulls, dead animals and Gothic curiosities.
A coincidence that will later remind me that it's less the macabre that Coates celebrates in his work than the transcending of animal spirit.
His costumes from shamanic rituals are displayed in the gallery : a suit with deer's antlers, an adidas tracksuit with reebock trainers and dead badger hat, a metallic suit with white horse's head.
Questions & Answers © Kate MacGarry © Marcus Coates
The book tucked in the adidas tracksuit's pocket is an encyclopedia of israeli and middle east birds (a reference that will make sense after viewing the plover's wing), the mannequin that resembles a city worker wears shoes laced by blank keys, referring to a pointless routine, a destiny unfulfilled, the recent banking system collapse ?
In a nearby glass cabinet, shamanic props are shown in a false didactic manner : a masticated and reconstituted kit-kat, an onion bag from tesco filled with feathers from the Jay Garrulus Glandarius etc...
Firebird, Rhebok, Badger and Hare © Kate MacGarry © Marcus Coates
On the wall, paper sheets handwritten in english, japanese or hebrew describe his journeys in the underworld as he attempts to answer questions such as What is capitalism ? or What is the meaning of life if we all die in the end ?
As the stories unfold, Coates is guided by animals encountered in spirit so that a snake, a line of starfish or a flock of birds help him deliver answers in bird language.
It's difficult to imagine what really happens during shamanic performances, unless having a glimpse at some of his videos.
Beryl - Journey to the Lower world © Kate MacGarry © Marcus Coates
photo © Nick David
As it appears, Marcus Coates doesn't preach to the preached. His rituals are a surreal act between integrity and the farcical, forcing us to assess wether it's for real : do we cross the line to feel for the people and situations encountered ? do we keep safe, choosing to get the giggles ? - aren't we doing a bit of both ?
Somehow, the odd shaking, sweating and squeaking helps to bring the truth safely, as it puts less attention on the challenging answers. Coates helps by going at the heart of the matter, in a subliminal manner.
At the pub © Kate MacGarry © Marcus Coates
The shamanic trance he performs in front of the residents of a soon-to-be-destroyed tower block in Liverpool looking for housing alternatives(Journey to the Lower World) is cathartic for the audience.
As he waits for a lift in their council estate or is having tea with a bunch of old ladies, wearing deer's antlers and dead animal skin, his presence in casual, everyday environments - the office, the city streets, the council estate -, highlights our disconnection from the natural world and its associated melancholic longing.
Eventually, his enactement of animal's behaviour connects with a time beyond human, a place we used to inhabit.
If less comfortable reaching a trance amongst practitioners in posh western suburbs, Coates is likely to be found walking the sacred lands of Australia in search of dreamtime stories.
Red Fox Vulpes vulpes © Kate MacGarry © Marcus Coates
It's the flux between roars of laughter and fleeting moments of metaphysic wonder which by contrast places Coates' performances at the heart of art rather than shamanism.
While Joseph Beuys chose the coyote as spirit guide to dig out the american psyche, Coates turns towards his local birds, as metaphor of his cultural heritage - where the traditions of twitching and trainspotting are celebrated along the geek and the awkward.
As one uncanny image of him crawling as a red fox recalls, it is his way to reach a place that transcends formative childhood memories, when pretending to be animal meant feeling human.
Thanks to Fabio Altamura and the Kate MacGarry gallery
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