Robins will wear their feathery fire, Christopher T. Creyts; Matthew Day Jackson; Collaborative Art Editions

Artwork Overview

Christopher T. Creyts; Matthew Day Jackson; Collaborative Art Editions, Robins will wear their feathery fire
Christopher T. Creyts; Matthew Day Jackson; Collaborative Art Editions, Robins will wear their feathery fire
Matthew Day Jackson , Collaborative Art Editions , Christopher T. Creyts
Robins will wear their feathery fire
2015–2016
Matthew Day Jackson, artist
born 1974
Collaborative Art Editions, publisher
Christopher T. Creyts, printer
Robins will wear their feathery fire, 2015–2016
Portfolio/Series title: There Will Come Soft Rains
Where object was made: United States
Material/technique: color intaglio
Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 502 x 337 mm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 19 3/4 x 13 1/4 in
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 686 x 520 mm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 27 x 20 1/2 in
Plate Mark/Block Dimensions (Height x Width): 506 x 340 mm
Plate Mark/Block Dimensions (Height x Width): 19 15/16 x 13 3/8 in
Credit line: Museum purchase: Peter T. Bohan Art Acquisition Fund
Accession number: 2016.0024.06
Not on display
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Images

Label texts

Jackson pairs this pandemonium of parrots, the most populous depiction of birds in this subset of Audubon’s Birds of America, with a ghostly skull, evoking the threat of overpopulation. Although their coloring here is not indicative of their green bodies, yellow heads, and red-orange faces (see the study skin in the nearby case for comparison), these are Carolina parakeets, a bird that is now extinct. Scientists speculate their crowd mentality likely played some role in their extinction. Audubon describes how these birds would decimate fruit crops in their pursuit of seeds, making them an enemy to gardeners and growers. The birds possessed an unfortunate flocking behavior, returning to the location of a recent hunter’s blast, enabling their slaughter in mass numbers.

Exhibitions

Audubon in the Anthropocene: Works by Matthew Day Jackson
Kate Meyer, curator
2020
Audubon in the Anthropocene: Works by Matthew Day Jackson
Kate Meyer, curator
2020
Conference of the Birds
Emily Kruse, curator
Sabine Rishell, curator
2020
Brosseau Center for Learning: Opening Up
2023

Resources

Audio

Listen to a curator talk about this work.
Listen to a curator talk about this work.
In this exhibition, you can compare Jackson’s unique coloration of Carolina parakeets to Audubon’s example from the Birds of America and to a specimen of the now-extinct bird collected in 1893. The apocalyptic scenario Jackson references in this print is overpopulation, and I want to shout out our tours coordinator, Neal Long, who noticed that there is a large skull looming through the background of this image.

Links

See the original art by John James Audubon referenced in this print.