Who is Landron?

The above triptych on a poster that has been appearing in the Mission has many to speculate aht it may be the work of conceptual artist Landron. A call to his studio in Bilbao this afternoon confirmed our hunch when he responded, "No it's not!"

It's easy to see why people might think that it was since it so obviously echoes the themes of his "avian millinery" installation at the Whitney Spring Biennial in 1997. The show got many mixed reviews with Landron's multi-media approach of ceramic, painting, silk screen and oil representations of birds in top hats.

Some thought it quaint and others looked for meaning that may have not been there.

Most did not fully conceive the qualifying script at the bottom of the program "an installation in progress" until its full folly was unleashed at 6 a.m. on Easter morning.

Landron and his countless apprentices and interns unleashed 6,500 baby chicks on Fifth Avenue just south of East 85th street, each outfitted in a tiny, handmade silk top hat. Though traffic was light it did wreck havoc and tragic, ironic carnage as entire flocks of yellow baby chicks were crushed by enormous Yellow cabs while little girls on way to Easter communion let out peeping shrieks not unlike those of the baby chicks.

Just after sunset, Landron projected images from a Tyson chicken processing plant where thousands of chickens met an equally cruel fate. "Can protest carnage be just when it exposes real carnage" read the headline in ArtForum's review of the installation.

The real impact of that exhibit is still unknown, thought it appears that shortly after it closed Broaster Chicken's logo added a top hatted chicken.