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"These days, there are art biennials to suit pretty much any taste, from city-spanning looks at the contemporary art zeitgeist to themed and targeted young artist showcases at major museums. But art-world denizens have likely never encountered anything like the Los Angeles-based La Luz De Jesus&amp;nbsp;gallery\u2019s latest entry into creative biennial making. Through May 27, the gallery will be hosting the \u201CRogue Taxidermy Biennial,\u201D a retrospective look at a group of dead animal-appropriating artists who take the traditional art form to new levels \u2014&amp;nbsp;with the help of their own strict moral code.The exhibition features the work of the Minnesota Association of Rogue Taxidermists (MART), an international crew of artists \u201Cdedicated to a shared mandate to advocate the showmanship of oddities\u2026 and encourage the desire to create displays of curiosity,\u201D as their manifesto reads. The term \u201Crogue taxidermy\u201D was coined by Robert Marbury (who also curated the exhibition), Scott Bibus, and Sarina Brewer to refer to taxidermists who use \u201Crecycled\u201D materials \u2014 animals recovered from roadkill accidents, casualties of the pet trade, and destroyed nuisance animals \u2014 to create surreal sculptures that often push beyond the boundaries of nature.Taxidermy has been coming into its own as a hip art form, hitting center stage in the rafters of woodsy Brooklyn bars, starring in avant-garde fashion (see Alexander McQueen), and dominating Etsy with home d\u00E9cor that could be called quirky if it wasn\u2019t quite so weird (a three-headed duckling in a vitrine is unlikely to encourage visitors). La Luz de Jesus's biennial exhibition, however, highlights what might be the most avant-garde side of the medium.Beth Beverly\u2019s hats, combining various fowl with brass, Swarovski crystals, and chains, are charming enough, but the same can\u2019t be said for Bibus\u2019s eviscerated rats, whose exposed innards are made of candy (don\u2019t worry, that sculpture is already sold). Lisa Black goes steampunk with pieces mixing animal parts and antique clock components, while Daisy Tainton poses rhinoceros beetles in eerily realistic everyday settings, including one tableau depicting an insectoid trip to the dentist. MART's curiosity cabinet might not be standard art fare, but the alternative collective of rapscallion animal stuffers come up with some surprising stories.&amp;nbsp;Click on the slide show for highlights from MART\u2019s \u201CRogue Taxidermy Biennial,\u201D which runs at La Luz De Jesus Gallery through May 27[content:advertisement-center]"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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