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Blechtacular! Chinatown Fish-Parts Collector Unveils His Masterwork

This is a little outside our field of coverage and well outside the bounds of good taste, but we’ve mentioned rogue taxidermist Nate Hill’s Chinatown garbage tours before. Last Friday, after a year of work, he unveiled his magnum opus, A.D.A.M. (A Dead Animal Man) — a reproduction of a human being he made by stitching together restaurant refuse and other animal parts. The piece is for sale but no longer on public display (Hill is moving into a studio apartment with it — “It’s going to be in a room with me while I sleep”), so we thought we’d give you a first look. Trust us, this thing is more disturbing than the Cloverfield monster and the Teeth monster sewn together.

We warned you.

What’s the strongest reaction you got at the opening?
The main body of the human is a decapitated dog that also had its arms and legs cut off. When I picked it up, one of my friends lost his shit and threw up in the bathroom.

Where did the dog come from?
It was Florida roadkill. I froze it rock solid and mailed it to my apartment.

Did you have qualms about doing stuff like that?
No. I eat meat. I feel like I can also use animals in ways that are enriching other than nutritionally.

Does A.D.A.M. have a personality? Did you bond with it while you were creating it?
It was modeled on me. When I start thinking about it like it has a personality, it makes me uncomfortable. I’ve been really stoned in my studio before and looking at it, and I have to leave the room. It gets too weird.

What are some other animal parts you used?
The face is made up of frog heads for the eyelids. The hair is a big fish fin. The arms and legs are made out of shark bodies. The penis is a rooster.

The feet are interesting.
The feet are one big lobster claw, and the right foot is a bunch of stuff — a rabbit, a frog, a duck, and crab arms.

Do you worry it’ll all fall apart?
Everything is sewn together with carpet thread and a long, thick leather needle. I’m hoping to set it in a block of acrylic so it sits there like Han Solo.

Are there taxidermy groupies?
There are. Nothing happens, though, because I have a girlfriend.

What’s next? How do you top this?
I’m going to make a female — that’s going to be the Eve project. I’m very excited about that because I’ll get to make female parts. I don’t want to sound too creepy…

Earlier:
Video: Carnivorous Nights Taxidermy Contest
Rogue Taxidermist Shows You How to Fish for Animal Parts
Related: Nate Hill’s Website

Blechtacular! Chinatown Fish-Parts Collector Unveils His Masterwork