For the Love of Gaud (Damien’s Worst) is inspired by “For the Love of God” by Damien Hirst – the human skull encrusted with diamonds, regarded as “the most expensive contemporary artwork.” In Kikauka’s version, skulls of all forms (life sized plastic skulls, gothic stoner pieces, wall works, lamps, wearables, household items, etc.) are modified and encrusted with costume jewelry.

Kikauka’s body of work encompasses various mediums including site-specific installation, mixed media, electronic sculpture, drawing, photography, video, performance, music, text, and costume creations. In each installation, she establishes a highly specific visual (and often audio) language that blends the increasingly overlapping worlds of high and low art forms. In general, Kikauka’s “excessive aesthetic” is comparable to urban archaeology and addresses issues of consumer culture, and the question of good and bad taste. It also celebrates failure in a humorous and ironic manner.

Kikauka’s work is inspired and derived from decades of on-going collecting of found objects. Employing the formal strategy of meticulously sorting and organizing these objects, as well as modifying or transforming them. She then creates specifically themed and coded works that transform gallery and exhibition spaces into densely packed, highly detailed installations.

Laura Kikauka has been exhibiting installation work, electro-mechanical sculpture, and performing since the early 1980s. The “Funny Farm” is her working & living space in Meaford, Ontario and Berlin, Germany. It has been represented in parallel with Kurt Schwitters “Merzbau” in venues such as Haus der Kunst, Munich, Sprengel Museum, Hannover, as well as other versions at Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, MAK Vienna, DNA Gallery, Berlin and the Power Plant, Toronto.

This work was produced with the support of a Visual Arts Project Grant from the Ontario Arts Council.