Fred Wilson Portrait of Audubon

Portrait of Audubon is a mixed-media work consisting primarily of a “bird’s eye view” image of John James Audubon painted on a multilevel wood platform. Fred Wilson (b. 1954, New York City, NY) has also constructed bird houses and feeders, based on the various architectural styles of the many countries in which Audubon lived, to be placed in the trees located on the traffic island. In addition, a number of small signs on the platform bear Audubon’s descriptions of various birds. Wilson says, “[The] signs . . . will encourage the viewer to walk on the sculpture, sit, eat their lunch, or read. The signs describe birds in Audubon’s words but do not show their image. The descriptions are meant to evoke an image or make one desire to seek out Audubon’s depiction of them. . . . This site-specific sculpture . . . focuses the pedestrian’s attention on nature, [an activity] which in itself is an homage to Audubon.”