Crow with Silver Spoon 1972

Alex Colville, a Canadian painter, made this image of a Crow with Silver Spoon at an unknown date with an unknown medium. Colville’s crow seems to be in flight, its wings spread, set against a crisp blue sky scattered with clouds and framed in a perfect circle. The process of making art is a little like being a magpie, isn't it? We pick up shiny bits and bobs, things that glitter and gleam. In the crow’s beak there is a silver spoon, a small detail that makes this a great painting. The material aspects of this work make us consider its texture and surface. The paint looks smooth, almost like it's been airbrushed, but there are details that peek through. The feathers of the crow, for example, are carefully rendered with visible brushstrokes, giving a sense of depth. That tiny spoon is reflective. Think of Magritte, another artist who loved to play with surreal juxtapositions and the unexpected. Like the crow and spoon, art is always talking to itself, building on what’s come before, but never quite saying the same thing twice.