Tastes Like Chicken, 2013.
Hand Colored, enlarged collage pasted on wall.
Brooklyn, NY
The impetus for this piece was an experience I had upon moving back to New York from San Francisco. I was staying with a friend in an SRO on 23rd st, and one day when we were walking around the roofs, we noticed all of these pigeons strung up on a line, as if they were being preserved. It happened to be in close proximity to a Chinese restaurant nearby.
I also have been rather disturbed over the years at the sight of birds eating meat from the garbage. Sometimes that food is fowl.
One of my assistants from last summer had raised a pigeon while growing up. I thought they would enjoy helping with an image about something they had a direct association with. Of course my imagery went for a darkly humorous note, and I began to wonder how I might be able to layer on some art historical notes. I have always been a fan of Goya, and as I was looking through some of his prints. I came across one where he directly referenced an image of Peter Paul Rubens - Saturn Devouring His Son. I used this same image to base my image upon.
A potential eating of ones own.
