Crow with Silver Spoon, 1972

Zwicker’s Gallery, Halifax Private Collection, Toronto

Images of crows and ravens figure prominently in Alex Colville’s art. Large and powerful birds, they are bold and guileless scavengers. Unafraid to swoop down into the company of humans to pursue a meal or trinket, crows are intelligent, precocious animals that can form close bonds with humans; they have even been known to leave gifts in exchange for food and protection. Set within a medallion of blue sky, its broad black wings spreading above wisps of clouds, Colville’s crow carries a delicate silver spoon in its beak—an object synonymous with wealth and aristocratic bearing. As ubiquitous in the artist’s oeuvre as they are in the natural environments he depicted, the enigmatic crow simultaneously transcends, and bears witness to, society’s cares.