Animals in Peril
During a grad school interview with a faculty panel, I was answering questions about a piece that involved painting on bullets (Sporting), and made a few comments on my growing interest in foxes. One faculty member remarked "Foxes! Nasty buggers, " and when a confused faculty asked why, he protested, "They eat sheep!" Hearkening from Australia, he claimed he'd actually seen a fox take a sheep. The interview continued onto other topics, but afterwards I found myself intrigued that such a small predator (they generally eat mice and voles) could take down a sheep, which is three times larger. Drawing on the old phrase, "wolf in sheep's clothing", I set about putting a sheep's skin on a fox. Baggy, disproportionate, and a little lopsided, the sheepskin makes the fox look laughable and a bit puny. But the fox's expression and body language - leaning forward, eyes intent - serves as a warning. Sheep in general are fairly stupid, and the fox will get his prize.