“For some years … he had felt the need to …supply himself, by measurement and delimitation, with spaces which were hardly more than “forms on paper” but which, for a short while at least, enabled him to construct himself and make himself invulnerable.”
Peter Handke, “The Long Way Round”
My recent drawings of organic objects were inspired by traditions of trompe l’oeil painting, natural history and scientific illustration. I work from specimens, sketching and photographing to compose a larger image. I’m absorbed by the task of paying attention and rendering forms and surfaces. During this process, objectivity gives way to a personal interpretation that explores the limits of observation, our connection to the natural world and our joint vulnerability.
Specifically, these three drawings show bone and animal specimens of local animals (opossum, and deer) borrowed from the specimen collection of the Biology Department at Grinnell College. They are part of a larger series I’m working on, in which I explore and juxtapose elements from this collection. 
Incomplete Quadruped, charcoal on paper, 30in x 12in by Tara Shukla, 2016
‘Jawbone’, charcoal on paper, 30inx22in, by Tara Shukla, 2016
‘Pelvis’, charcoal on paper, 30inx22in, by Tara Shukla, 2016
