In order to free the hand from the rational dictates of the mind, the Surrealists practiced a technique known as automatic drawing, in which the artist's subconscious mind guides a line's path across the page. In this work, Miró harnessed that practice to describe a series of organic shapes that add upto a body. Collaged color reproductions of a fish and a chick recall the first title Miró gave this drawing-collage, L'Origine de la bête humaine (The origin of the human animal). Bearing both breasts and a phallus, this figure blurs the distinction not only between human and animal but also between the sexes.
Gallery label from Exquisite Corpses: Drawing and Disfiguration, March 14–July 9, 2012.
