In true Surrealist automatistic style, I began this painting while distracted by a phone call from Scott Schryver. On a virgin ground, the wet brush in my hand unconsciously scrawled a bird as I am so comfortable with this form from my early drawings. A structure developed around the bird over time; one connected to the then current events (wars in the middle east) but connected as well to my own personal history. The titular Conqueror Bird is a direct reference to the Conqueror Worm of Edgar Allan Poe, as is the ruined graveyard. The frame was decoupaged with miniature dollars in various denominations before being painted over.