"Aillaud’s portraits of animals in zoo environments – his almost singular theme throughout much of the 1960s and 1970s – can be seen as a fusion of his political, philosophical and aesthetic beliefs. In these works, the twinned notions of spectacle and alienation find perfect form. Although grounded in the specific realities of the observable world, they also stand as a reminder of the conditions imposed by advanced capitalist culture. Against the emancipatory promises of his peers, Aillaud’s animals are articulable only within the often menacing mechanisms of power and control. Often contained behind barriers (glass and metal bars) that simultaneously create and obscure their visibility, Aillaud's subjects are prescient renderings of life quantified and objectified."

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