ART417: Critical Studies 2 – Critique Essay

Rebecca House – Year 1

University of Plymouth
 To what effect has Sue Coe’s work had on society through her continuing art career?

In this essay, I will be exploring the effect of Sue Coe’s practice on society and how she hopes to

encourage the viewer to join in on the active struggle against animal slaughtering. As well as taking a look at

Coe’s work itself and what they represent, I am researching what the message she is trying to perceive to the

viewer. Sue Coe is a contemporary English artist who lives and works in upstate New York, although originally

born in Staffordshire, England in 1951. For the first nine years of her life, Coe grew up living down the street

from the abattoir located in Hersham, England, she viewed this place as, “the factory that put bacon and

sandwiches on the dinner table”, clearly showing her innocent age. (Heller, 1996) Growing up in this

environment where seeing such things was so easily assessable, it instilled a life-long passion for animal rights

activism. Coe uses a mixture of painting, printmaking and a realistic drawing style to portray scenes of intense

animal suffering. Along with her exploration of cruelty against animals, she has also explored various other

inhumane themes such as sweatshops, prisons, the AIDS crisis, war and anticapitalism. (Sernet, 1989) This

clearly shows Coe has always shifted her practice into serious social justice issues.Coe’s pieces often take on

the dark humour of political cartoons in hope her graphic images burns into your mind. Throughout her pieces,

Coe permits us to be present with the animals who are usually viewed as nothing more than a “future meal”.

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Sue Coe, Red Slaughterhouse, 1988
Going back to what we are originally asking, this shows that Coe is actively broadcasting the strong message of

animal cruelty to anyone who wishes to take notice. An example of this is Coe’s piece titled, “Red

Slaughterhouse”. (Coe, 1998) Here we can see the most prominent aspect of this piece is the blood red casting

over every inch of the surface, clearly representing the blood shed within the slaughterhouse itself. We can

also make this clear link to the title of the piece and how Coe has chosen to keep this characteristic of the

painting fresh in the viewer’s mind. Possibly to encourage the viewer to retain the reality that is behind the

work. Upon research, artist Sunara Taylor interviews Coe about her pieces in which Coe states an interesting

statistic, “We only need ten percent to change society. We only need ten percent activist people”. Taylor asks

Coe, “Do you consider your work to be journalism?” to which Coe responds, “Some parts are reportage, for

example the part where I’m in a slaughterhouse rescuing animals, the drawings done in these places, and the

text that’s in there…”. (Coe, 1998) Showing that part of her practice is actually visiting these stockyards, also

sharing that she has faced herself with these hands on visits all the way from Liverpool to Los Angeles. (Heller,

1996)

In today’s day and age,

“intensive meat production…

mostly beef, veal, pork and

chicken are an act of violence:

primarily of course an act against

the creatures involved. But also,

against nature…”. (Cockburn,

1996, p. 16-42) Due to Coe’s

journalistic method of working, it

gives the viewer a true insight

into what actually happens in

these places. This is shown

through a range of properties,

from the chosen colour palette

Sue Coe, The Veal Skinner, 1991

to the phrases depicted in her pieces. If we turn our focus to Coe’s piece, “The Veal Skinner” (Coe, 1991) we

see an elderly looking man hanging up a veal carcass as also stated in the title. If we divert our attention to this

apparent figure’s facial expression in this lithographic piece, it seems to be almost careless and a natural daily

occurrence for this man to complete this brutal task. Although, this makes sense if this man has been

operating this job for a number of years which can be a possibility due to his elderly aura. This composition is

very dynamic and has a range of deep tonal values, specifically within the “veal skinners” jumpsuit. The focal

point of this piece I believe is the animal itself as it is what Coe is using to send the message of animal cruelty

to society. My initial thoughts of this piece brought me to the book ‘Animal Farm’ written by George Orwell. In

this notorious novel Orwell scripts, “All that year the animals worked like slaves. But they were happy in their

work…”. (Orwell, 1945a, p.20) This just shows the innocence that these animals have to man. As stated in John

Berger’s book, ‘Why look at animals?’, “No animal confirms man, either positively or negatively. The animal

can be killed and eaten so that its energy is added to that which the hunter already processes.” (Berger, 2008,

p.252) This supports the idea that man is in power over these submissive animals, yet animals remain as loyal

as they can be to those in control.

If we take our attention towards what I

believe to be Coe’s most successful work,

“You Consume Their Terror”, (Coe, 2011) we

can notice just the immense amount of

detail this piece holds. I specifically love the

extreme tonal values and depth it has. Not

to mention, how as a viewer we really have

to pay our attention to the desperation and

a cry for help that she has managed to

capture within the many animals in this

piece. It can almost be described as an

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Sue Coe, You Consume Their Terror, 2011
illusion piece as we start to take notice how many animals are actually hidden within the details, for example

the ducks around the eyes or the assortment of animals in the teeth. I consider this as the most effective piece

Coe has completed because of how strong and clear the obvious message was. In a thought-provoking

interview with The Washington Post, Coe explains, “I never planned to be a political artist, if you were a

woman in art school (in the late sixties), you were expected to be an illustrator of children’s books”. (Sherrill,

1994) This is very interesting as her style of practice is such a juxtaposition to what style of work she was

“expected” to do. Another characteristic of this piece that is noteworthy is the red text streamed across the

bottom, stating “you consume their terror”, which of course is also the title of the piece itself. Breaking this

down, my understanding of this is the harsh reality that is direct the viewer who “consumes” these

slaughtered animals no matter how this meat was sourced. In my opinion, this is a fascinating strategy to

spread the message, by giving the viewer a personal link to the painting through using the word “you”.

Capitalism is a strong theme throughout Coe’s pieces. By definition in the Oxford Dictionary, capitalism is “an

economic and political system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for

profit, rather by the state”. (Oxford, 2015) I believe Coe explores and represents capitalism through her piece,

“Butcher to the World”. This specific artwork represents the idea that mistreatd animals live in a capitalist

society and one may even say there is a hierarchy in these environments, where humans are in power and the

animal is not. Maybe this was Coe’s

intention with this piece of work? To

spread her message in a different

perception to the viewer. This can be

seen through the man holding the red

stained money bags at the top of the

pile to the lifeless animal bodies that

man is towering over. If we take our

focus to the animals in this piece, we

Sue Coe, Butcher to the World, 1986

can see not only are they presented in such a fowl manner piled up, but Coe has decided to show them as

chopped up pieces of meat. Demonstrating to the viewer that the animals in these establishments –

slaughterhouses – are not important enough to the people running them to be treated in a careful and

humane way. If we refer back to the pre-mentioned novel ‘Animal Farm’, where lead character ‘Major’

enthusiastically states, “Man serves the interests of no creature except himself…All men are enemies. All

animals are comrades”. (Orwell, 1945b, p.3) This supports the idea that there is in fact a man to animal social

ladder even in this dystopian tale.

Another controversial topic that relates to Coe’s practice is animal testing. This awful man-made act that

causes “millions of mice, rats, rabbits, primates, cats, dogs, and other animals to be locked inside barren cages

in laboratories across the country. They languish in pain, suffer from extreme frustration, ache with loneliness,

and long to be free.” (Peta, 2015) On 18th August 2021, around 600 protesters, “who included members of the

groups Defend Direct Action-Animal Offensive and Camp Beagle… held up banners and signs saying, “Unite for

Animal Justice”, “Free the MBR Beagles” and “Meat is Murder” as they marched. (Frodsham, 2021) Ronan

Falsey is a member of Camp Beagle and explained.

“We’re all here for the same purpose, and there

are people who are supporting animal activism”.

(Frodsham, 2021) This shows change is happening

in the fight for animal welfare. An example of

Coe’s work where I believe she touches on this

topic is titled, “Animals are the 99%”. (Coe, 2011a)

In this piece we can see numerous animals being

treated in various brutal ways. I credit Coe for

visiting these places first-hand to capture the

reality that happens behind closed doors. As a

viewer of this piece, we know that humans are

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Sue Coe, Animals Are The 99%, 2011
responsible for creating such a system where these animals are born into this world only to leave it terrified

and in pain through the fragments of human hands we can see throughout. Another aspect of this work is the

obvious caption, “animals are the 99% of which you spare yourself the sight”. Linking this with the title once

again, we now see that this is a common thing for Coe to do across her pieces. If we delve deeper into the

meaning of this caption, I believe Coe is trying to again to involve the viewer immediately by making use of the

pronouns, “you” and “yourself” to make the viewer feel the message directly that she as an activist and artist

is trying to send. In an online review by Ray Kass about said artist Sue Coe, Kass makes a thought-provoking

point, “Coe offers us an image of the end of art that is like a condemnation of human nature”. (Kass, 1987)

Condemnation is “the act of saying that something or someone is very bad and unacceptable”. (Collins, n.d.)

The fact that Kass has used this word to describe the act of “human nature” from the depiction of Coes work

truly means that a part society is listening to Sue Coe and her body of practice on this continuing issue.

In conclusion, with the evidence I have stated within this essay, we can see the effect of Sue Coe’s work has

had on society through her continuing art career has been strong. We can see this through the multiple

articles, interviews and books written about her or the strong topic her practice is based around. I believe

society has been and will continue to be divided on this subject, for reasons such as lack of knowledge and not

knowing how to contribute to change, or how easy it is to turn a blind eye. On the other hand, change is

happening all over the world which include protests and strikes. But does this mean institutes such as

slaughterhouses will continue to operate? Or does this mean mankind as a whole should put more effort into

making an active change for these millions of animals dying every day? Sue Coe has contributed by dedicating

her whole art career into researching first-hand what goes on these ongoing issues around the world and to

continue to spread this message as far as she can until change happens.

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