An unusual work with themes of death, decay and bodily transformation is creating a buzz for Canada at the 52nd edition of the Venice Biennale.

People lined up to see the exhibit by Montreal's David Altmejd as the Biennale, one of the world's most prestigious art shows, opened Sunday.

Altmejd's installation, enigmatically called The Index, combines giants, severed limbs, decapitated werewolf heads, weird flowers and birdmen in a way that is strangely compelling for art lovers.

"I've been to six Venice Biennales and this is the most ambitious display I've seen in the Canadian pavilion, and you can see by the line outside that a lot of people agree with me," Laura Hauptman, senior curator at New York's New Museum of Contemporary Art, said in an interview with CBC Radio.

Hauptman said she's been following Altmejd's development as an artist and finds his work exciting.

Energy and tension

Altmejd, 32, graduated  just six years ago with a master's in fine arts from Columbia University, and already he has a following in the international art scene for earlier works featuring werewolves and giants.

Altmejd says he sees art the same way he does nature — as something living and energy-generating.

"One of the things that's amazing about sculpture is that it has a very similar presence as the body. I realize that more and more, that I'm interested in making objects that become as complex and alive as bodies,' he said.

Altmejd said he mingles different mythological elements in his sculptures as a way to create energy and tension.

The process of making the art is just as important as the end result, he said.

"As I'm building a sculpture, I like to make myself laugh. I like to kind of make myself nervous at the idea that someone would be shocked," he said.

Altmejd said he follows his instincts and is not afraid to look silly "… or, you know, I become shy in my own studio, making my work. I'm making testicles in the face of a birdman. It makes me shy and that makes me feel like what I'm doing really exists. It makes me feel something that's really real."

Creepy but optimistic

Altmejd's work gets reactions. The first sculpture inside the Canadian pavilion looks like two parade floats crowded with fake flowers and mushrooms, and bird-like creatures.

Even rain on opening day couldn't keep the curious from lining up for a glimpse of his unusual subject matter.

As people moved out of the rain and into the building, they could barely resist reaching out and touching a stuffed squirrel, or jumping back, startled by the reflection of the second sculpture, a giant werewolf.

"I don't find it scary, but I find it very creepy," said Katherine Walsh,  an architect who lives in Florence, after visiting the exhibit.

Despite that gothic creepiness, Altmejd's work emanates optimism, said Louise Déry, the Montreal curator who commissioned him for the Biennale.

"Even if it's sometimes dead birds or parts of bodies or werewolves, there's always something that can survive or grow. Even a crystal has life … it's transforming itself," she said.

Altmejd's Index installation will be on exhibit in the Canadian pavilion until November.

The Galerie de l'Université du Québec à Montréal is also organizing a nationwide tour of his work next year.