Unfortunate news for any performance artist who’s been dutifully preparing “You Smell Bad On The Outside: Tautological Tauntaun No. 1” for its big debut at the local AcidClownBath Festival (or whatever): 21-year-old “aspiring model and nudist” Jasha Lottin from Portland has already upended everyone’s paradigm with an Empire Strikes Back-inspired art project, which involved gutting a dead horse, then posing for gory, naked, Not Safe For Squares photos from inside its carcass before eating it. After all, you’ve had more than 30 years to create a provocative piece based on the scene where Han Solo borrows Luke Skywalker’s light saber to cut open his tauntaun then places Luke inside, so you can’t really blame Lottin for finally beating you to it.


As Lottin demonstrates, all you had to do was purchase an old, dying horse that was scheduled to be euthanized, put it down yourself with a hunting rifle, skin and gut it, crawl inside and take some naked photos, then post those photos to the web’s Museum of Modern Art, 4chan, and await the accolades. Oh, and the police investigation: After receiving a tip from an angry 4chan user, sheriff’s deputies questioned Lottin at length, who explained that her project was inspired both by her love of Star Wars and her desire to “feel one with the animal”—a surely unintentional nod to Freddy Got Fingered, otherwise deputies probably would have arrested her. As it is, the deputies saw only the art and a reminder of what a quick-thinking badass Han Solo is—and no evidence of animal abuse—so they let Lottin alone, who says that she has “no idea why people care.” Duh, because Empire Strikes Back is awesome! Also because your photos made us Google “cauterize eyeballs." [via Gawker]