Week #6, Feathered Friends II

Dusti Bongé, Untitled (Surrealist Bird), c. 1945, charcoal on paper, 16 ¾” x 14”.

Our second example of Dusti Bongé’s surrealist birds is another gallinaceous fowl. Like last week’s feathered friend this one too is rendered in the same graphically reduced style with simple black outlines and several simple patterns of stipples, lines, waves, and semicircles. There are the essential indications of wings, feet, tail, beak and comb, although her one visible wing is slightly more elaborately feathered. And once again there are puffy clouds in the sky. But that is where the similarities end.

This hen-like creature happens to be placed in a truly surreal context, in a rather unusual locale, and with a most unexpected object. The stippled pattern under her feet, suggesting sand, and the wavy lines to her right, suggesting water, indicate she is on the beach! She also looks to be actively moving. In fact, with her two feet spread apart as wide as possible she is running at a good pace.

But she is not just running along the shore, she is actually multitasking. And this is where the unexpected item comes into the picture. This hen is shown with a large conch shell. So, while she runs along the beach, she is holding on to a conch shell in the tip of her wing, as if in her hand,. Moreover, she is actively picking at its contents with her pointy beak. That’s some multitasking.

But it is also highly atypical. Although chickens can indeed eat shellfish in moderation (we don’t want fishy tasting eggs) they are not usually doing so on the beach but in the barn yard. And most commonly, they are fed shrimp with shells and heads, not exotic seafoods like conch. However, in Dusti’s surreal world who’s to say that hens cannot partake in rare delicatessen while sprinting along the shoreline? One should be so lucky!

It does make me wonder though. Does her multitasking situation suggest that her very delicious treat may be ill-gotten gain?