2011 Exhibition: Secret Life of Birds | Martin King

2011 Exhibition: Secret Life of Birds
20 September - 15 October 2011

Secret Life of Birds

This work is from an ongoing series of work
which uses the bird as motif.

In history, the image of the bird is a metaphor
for the prophet, an intermediary between the divine and society, the prophet
that can prompt change through message and action.

The work is inspired in part by a watercolor
made in 1502 by Albrecht Durer. He made a number of beautiful studies of birds
and bird wings

My drawing is of the wings of a Boobook Owl that
I found. It had been killed by a fox or cat but was in good condition and I
could draw the wings, make studies of them in my studio. I was not concerned
with ornithological accuracy, I wanted to convey the patterned elements, the
texture and the shape, the physical lightness of the form.

In the course of making the studies, these
disembodied wings took on a
metaphysical and metaphorical dimension.

The absence of the body of the owl gave a sense
of pathos and mystery and I realised that in making the drawing I was honouring
the birds life rather than its death.

Unlike ‘nature morte’ images,in which the images
are inanimate, these wings are ‘reanimated’ like hands waving or the wings of
angels floating heavenward! They signify something that is absent and at the
same time are ready to transport the secret life of the bird to another place.

On the margins of the paper are brush marks,
swatches of exploratory colour and the water stains, drifts and dribbles of
paint that reveal the history of the making of the work.

mk 2011