I began to work on this series of objects / sculptures in 2006. The process is complex and takes a long time before the final piece is finished. I start with a specially configured cardboard tube, which is reinforced with wood and steel, filled with meat or freshly caught fish from the nearby river and wrapped into several layers of fine art paper. After I have chained the entire object to a tree I let the black bears do their creatively destructive part. It can take a few weeks but also several months before they are finished. I carefully collect the tube\'s remaining pieces and engage in part preservation, part restoration work in my studio in Toronto. I usually replace the \"consumed\" meat with my entropic graphite drawings, executed on partially burned paper. The campfire wood I use originates from the same forest where I collaborate with my bears. I usually finish off the final specimen with gauze velvet, tassels etc. This \"embalming ritual\" is over when I place the (at this point) very precious and sacred object into a custom-made museum display.
