I fucking LOVE these!!

So excited when I go an email from Mike Dias saying he installed these little bird portraits on all of the the dozen or so bird houses along Pine street, between Broad and 10th streets, and I had a chance this weekend to go snap a few shots… Totally inspired work… I had to email his back to ask a few questions…

So, Mike, what inspired this installation?
For the most part, I was interested in the phrase people use when they refer to something as being “for the birds.” By placing a miniature fine art piece, i.e., a painting, onto an object that was literally made for the birds, I wanted to form a connection between the two in order to suggest that “art is for the birds.” As a way to alleviate the nature of association tied to representation, I decided to use abstraction in creating a bird portrait for each house so that they could also be appreciated for aesthetics alone. Among other things, I find myself continually inspired by the intermingling of both fine art and street art.

How’d you do it? Is it like oil on canvas glued to the bird houses?
After observing and counting each house, I determined a general scale that would be acceptable for all 15. I cut down a board of masonite accordingly and created a simplified 5-step painting process to complete each one differently while using the same group of colors. Each is made with a combination of spray-paint and acrylic mounted with 3M “permanent” double-sided tape.

Did you go to school for art?
Currently pursuing a BFA at uArts.

Have you ever done any kind of street art before?
For a while, I’ve played with the idea to varying degrees in different forms, i.e., urban intervention, public performance, ephemeral artwork.

AWESOME new bird portraits added to bird hoses on Pine! Plus, an INTERVIEW with the artist… wp.me/p1gwum-pC

— Streets Dept (@StreetsDept) December 12, 2011

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