'Birdness Series No. 2 - Small'
2005
Series of 12, each 40 x 55cm
Miranda Maher is an American artist who has recently adopted the theme of birds as a way to explore how idiosyncrasies of the human psyche often stands unexamined and uncorrected. Past projects include bird nests with logos of luxury houses printed paper ribbons, meant to "poke fun at our consumer culture values by improving the delicately crafted bird nests with the cache of designer label" ('Home Improvement', 2007), fragments of dreams scribbled on various size eggs, which "explore our ambivalent love-affair with dreams like little whispers of the unconscious" ('Oneiric Oology', 2006), metal casts of North American birds legs protruding from a wall, highlighting the naïve willingness of counter productively helping nature's little creatures ("I'm Sure Their Little Feet are Cold").
"Ever since I realized that it is utterly impossible for us to comprehend bird consciousness -- or "Birdness" as I came to call it -- their image and presence has taken on a new significance for me. My bird-work uses many forms, but tries to grasp that consciousness in some feeble way even as it examines our egocentric, self-serving views of them."
Maher's 'Birdness Series' for instance explores ways by which to measure the movement of various species of birds. By recording their wingspan and speed in beats-per-second on paper in a quasi-scientific manner, this series conveys the huge effort as well as power, which those fragile creatures have to endure in order to live, eat and often survive. A selection of drawings from 'Birdness Series No. 1 - Hummingbirds', 'Birdness Series No. 2 - Small North American Birds' and 'Birdness No. 3 - Speckle Patterns' were shown as part of the exhibition, Systematic, at the South Bend Museum of Art, Indiana, in 2007.
Miranda Maher graduated with a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art. Her works have been shown in several prestigious art spaces such as Wave Hill, The Urban Institute of Contemporary Art, White Columns, The Drawing Center and can also be found in notable private and public collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney Museum of American Art (Special Collections), Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and the Brooklyn Museum.
To see more of her work registered on Saatchi Online click here.
Constance Gounod |
