This bird, with its profiled head, oversized eye, and outspread wings, perches astride a golden orb, or nest. At its feet are disembodied headsperhaps vanquished foes. These various forms coalesce into an oddly phallic configuration. Pollock mixed sand with his paint, perhaps partly inspired by watching Navajo artists execute a sand painting at MoMA's 1941 exhibition Indian Art of the United States.
Gallery label from Jackson Pollock: A Collection Survey, 1934-1954, November 22, 2015–May 1, 2016.