For a class (attended in the fall semester of 2002), I had to do a five-piece series based on a theme in any media I wanted, and I chose to title my series “The Evolution of Dinner.” Part 4 was the above collage made from a chicken helper box. Part 1 was a still life of fruits and veggies in oils. Part 2 was something I completely forgot and I think I threw it out at some point because it was just terrible. It had to do with fire & meat. Part 3 was a watercolor of a canning factory. Part 5 was bamboo stick figures with vitamins glued to their stomachs. Raw (far past), Cooked (past), Mass Produced (recent past), Quick & Easy (present), Pill-based consumption (future).
I think the worst thing about explaining this one was that even after I said it’s supposed to look like a chicken carcass, and several people agreeing that it does, someone felt like arguing that chickens don’t look like that at all. He thought that the shape of an upright, living chicken was the shape the chicken maintained when dead.