Les herbes de passage (Oiseaux) is a mural inspired by the capacity of birds living in urban surroundings to adapt to their environment and profit from it in a creative way. The mural is composed of vegetation motifs, which are reproductions of architectural details, evoking natural elements such as leaves and flowers. These elements were cast and then reproduced in porcelain in order to be combined with several schematized birds in bas relief. All the components are organized to create a motif that evokes ancient tapestries. Paying particular attention to certain details of the mural, one notices that parts of the motif are absent, as if they had been torn away by the birds to be used in building their nests. The idea of the technological translation of material is at the heart of this mural in which an architectural motif evoking an element of nature is suddenly used by a bird as if it were a real leaf or a real flower. The adaptive capacity of birds living in urban surroundings is thus emphasized and celebrated.
Les herbes de passage (Oiseaux), 2020, Porcelain, nichrome wire, pins, 104 x 72 x 2 inches
Photo credit : Étienne Dionne