Golden-Cheeked Warbler

Golden-Cheeked Warbler

Painting

 Reicher Ranch, Austin, TX, 78738

Commissioned as one of two paintings by Jules Buck Jones for the Wildlife Conservation Division at Reicher Ranch. The other painting is entitled Jolly-ville Plateau Salamander. “Both of these paintings aim to be simultaneously celebratory and mournful. They have different approaches but a similar goal. The first painting is of the Golden-Cheeked Warbler. In the foreground is a drawing of every Warbler depicted in John James Audubon’s Birds of America. They all have a number written on their body, which corresponds to the plate number they hold in the book. Upon discovering there was no Golden-Cheeked Warbler in the famous Naturalist’s expansive series of bird drawings, I decided to use the warbler’s absence in the book as a metaphor for the potential absence of an endangered species on earth. There are 435 plates in Birds of America. In this painting the Golden-Cheeked Warbler is numbered 436. Ideally, I would like to have the book as part of the piece. The viewer can look at the painting, match the number on any of the birds to their corresponding page in the book and gain a little information on the species. This is of course minus one. When they look up #436, they will realize there are no more illustrations and no information on the Golden-Cheeked Warbler. The feeling of erasure and loss are intentional and hopefully quite potent in contrast to the iconic, powerful presence the Golden-Cheeked Warbler has in the painting.” – Jules Buck Jones