Please Don’t Feed the Animals by Scooter LaForge is an invitation to a beastly banquet that confronts the link between humanity’s cruel hunger for animals and our global climate crisis.

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In his latest installation, LaForge continues to shock and seduce with his signature anthropomorphic motifs in service of a direct warning about gluttony and destruction. The centerpiece is a table with 10 plates, each representing an animal glazed in quick gestures that resemble the aftermath of a meal. Alluding to the memorial intent of Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party, each place setting honors famous animal activists or calls out offending corporations. Unlike Chicago, many of the platters and teacups on LaForge’s table are smashed and bloody. With the hand-painted tablecloth singed by fire, the entire scene conjures a pop-horror hybrid of the Mad Hatter’s tea party and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, where each plate becomes a tombstone for millions of animals.

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LaForge invites us to gorge on his uncompromising vision of where excess and greed are leading all of us. While it’s not a pretty picture, there is hope for a better future if we curb our ravenous appetites.

This installation is made entirely with upcycled materials and found objects.