I figured, given all the doom and gloom this week, we’ve earned some amusement.

Meet Clive Smith, then, whose birds I find delightful. According to his website, he is interested in both genomic technology and art as a medium to envision possibilities of creation:

“While I was researching advances within genomic technology, I became enthralled by the progress biologists were making in the study of endangered animals. These molecular biologists had set themselves the goal of re-engineering previously extinct species and returning them to life. For example, The Flagship Project proposes to bring back the extinct Passenger Pigeon. To achieve this they would use the DNA of specimens found in natural history museums. These preserved DNA fragments would then be engineered with its closest living species, the band-tailed pigeon, to recreate a new breed that is as close as possible to the extinct bird.

I became fascinated by the creation of new, yet familiar breeds. By combining an existing bird, and mixing it with the DNA of a painting I wanted to create an entirely new, and wonderful subspecies. I have engineered these new breeds by thinking about how a certain birds’ patterning and color could match the DNA of a specific painting. There is an interesting correlation between brush-strokes and feathers. Plumage, like paintings, has evolved to evoke very specific emotions: aggression, warning, seduction, joy.” 

His smart importations of other people’s paintings encouraged me to use his models as company to my own avian visitors – thus the band-tailed pigeons (now gone until they return in the spring.) (His other birds can be seen if you click the link on his name.)

Meet models and montages.

Clive Smith Richter Pigeon (Colomba Haus Sohl) (2022)

Clive Smith Richter Pigeon (Colomba Apfelbäume) (2022)

Clive Smith Dupré Dove (Zenaida the windmill) (2022)

Clive Smith Richter Pigeon (Colomba Wolke) (2022)

Clive Smith Malevich Pigeon (Columba suprematism) (2023)

Did you know that Antonin Dvorak loved pigeons? (For the musical history-inclined here’s an interesting essay.)

For the rest of us who yearn for the music, here is one of my favorite compositions. I don’t care that it is a war horse. Cellist’s shirt, depending on the light, is sort of pigeon-colored too…which is why I chose this performance. Below this one is the version that I have on CD.

Here is one played by Jaqueline Du Près.

Clive Smith Constable Dove (Zenaida moonlight landscape) (2022)