Birds Don't Care Whose Head They Crap On

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    Photo: Stephen Pitkin/Pitkin Studio
1987
Found wood, welded metal, window screen, wire, industrial sealing compound, paint
54 x 51 x 24 inches
Collection of
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Adolph D. and Wilkins C. Williams Fund and partial gift of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation
Description

The precarious human condition, as demonstrated by social instability and defenselessness against nature's whims, is the principal message of Birds Don't Care Whose Head They Crap On. A row of birds, constructed of roots, wire mesh screening, and plastic, perch on a V-shaped metal armature (V, the flying formation of migratory birds as well as the victory sign). There are many sub-texts in this piece, among them intimations of heritage and unity, but the overriding statement is, as Dial would say, "a serious joke" about equality and nature's disregard for human pretenses.