I want dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones.
Dunedin born-and-raised artist Bruce Mahalski needs bones to create works for an exhibition and is seeking Central Otago landowners' permission to come and collect.
"I really want to get on to farms where there is heavy pest control,'' he said yesterday in Dunedin.
Mahalski (52), of Wellington, has been making works of art from animal bones since 2006.
His body of work includes several guns made from animal bones, as an anti-war statement.
A work called Lady's duelling pistol is of two pistols in a case.
The tip of one barrel is a ferret skull, at the barrel of the other is a gull skull; the triggers are hedgehog jaws and the bullets are teeth.
He stopped making guns, he said, because he "was starting to get typecast''.
"I don't want people to think I'm about death, I'm about celebrating life.''
Another work features cat skulls he found under a Dunedin house in Glenleith.
"I crawled around and got five of them, some of them would be over 100 years old.''
Human bones have featured in his work and were part of his message.
"Humans are animals and we have to step up to be animals, rather than looking down on animals. We have to acknowledge we are animals and try to improve to become a better animal.''
The work celebrated the lives of the animals, he said.
He said the bones had a pulse or life force he could feel, even the bones of pests.
"The life force of a rat is just as valid as our own. I don't see a distinction between a rat bone and a human bone.''
Mahalski will be in Central Otago to collect bones for two weeks from next weekend.
The aridness of the region made it the best place to collect bones.
In 1980s Dunedin, Mahalski was the frontman of two bands, Crystal Zoom and Let's Get Naked, which "packed the Cook for about two years'', he said.
He hoped to live in Central Otago, to be closer to the best bone supply in the country.
People with bones to share can contact Mahalski through his website www.mahalski.org.
