Birdman Trainer

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    Photo: Stephen Pitkin/Pitkin Studio
1987
Enamel on wood paneling
39 x 36 inches
Collection of
National Gallery of Art
Museum purchase and gift of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation
Description

Birdman Trainer is an abstracted and elusive work, identified as a probable self-portrait owing to the resemblance of the birdman's hair to that of the artist's. The image of a bird atop a human head may be symbolic of a yearning for spiritual fulfillment, with the bird serving as a dynamic, graceful intermediary between heaven and earth, here visually connected to the mind of the artist.