Those gray flyers you see walking around your feet, picking up the crumbs, landing on your face if your face looks like a reasonable place to land. Yeah, those pigeons. That’s what’s going on here. These are the artworks of one Laurel Roth as represented by Frey Norris, Packer Schopf, and Schroeder Romero Galleries. Each of these birds is part of set called “Biodiversity Reclamation Suits for Urban Pigeons.” That means Roth takes pigeons (hand carved mannequins), sets them on stands, and crochets yarn coats for them to look totally and wholly fancy in. Everyone loves a little fancification, right?

Even dirty birds like to feel loved and to look super sassy.

From the Biodiversity Reclamation Suits for Urban Pigeons, the bird you see above is the green-coated “Carolina Parakeet.” This is the newest bird, this set beginning in 2007 and continuing on to 2010 (and hopefully beyond.) The dimensions and ingredients of this bird (and basically the rest of the birds in the set are as thus:

crocheted yarn, hand carved pigeon mannequin, walnut stand
8 x 9 x 13 in.
20 x 23 x 33 cm.

Below you’ll see several other birds, each of them with a different name: Dodo, Passenger Pigeon, Ivory Billed Woodpecker, and of course that Carolina Parakeet. This is the sort of settling into the art that I’m loving seeing at this point in our sharing internet history. I speak occasionally on these internets of the art movement were in right now, the one that’s tied directly into the graphic design acceptance boom and internetting life we’re quickly becoming fully accustomed to. You can see the understanding of the people this project is going to reach, but you can feel the confidence and calmness in the project too.

What I mean is some projects I post here on WFDJ know their audience for sure, but take that understanding hardcore, not reeling back the project into the real world. Take the 365 Stormtroopers project. It’s wild, it’s wonderful, it’s now. In 10, 20 years, it’s still going to be cute, but the impact, its strongest point, isn’t going to be there anymore. Where Stormtrooper action figure photos take heart in their surprising comedy, these birds come correct in a very “this is excellent” manner.

Great craft, great execution, very aesthetically pleasing, and still it has the initial impact, but one that I don’t think is going to fade over time. It’s always going to be strange seeing human-crafted pseudo-clothing covered pigeon.

Especially if that clothing is a Dodo costume.

If you’d like to get in contact with Laurel Roth, head on over to the LR contact page or touch base with any of the following galleries which represent: Schroeder Romero Gallery in New York, Frey Norris Gallery in San Francisco, and Packer Schopf Gallery in Chicago.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies outer space category.