While it doesn’t strictly adhere to the format of his other sideshow paintings, The Chicken House borrows certain visual traits from the format, such as the vivid yellow and red-orange color palette. It also mobilizes the sense of humor, spectacle and surprise found throughout the series.

A fairly on-the-nose treatment of the titular subject matter, the painting literally shows a building shaped like a chicken. Implied could be the voice of a carnival barker calling out to passersby to, “Step right up and see the unbelievable house shaped like a chicken!”

Also implied are an assortment of peripheral commentaries, some satirical, some sincere. Brown spent his whole life interested in architecture. Growing up in the South, he developed a special affinity for the types of buildings rural folks build for themselves, such as those that house actual chickens. He also had an intense interest in futuristic and streamlined architectural styles, such as Art Deco—a regard that is clearly and delightfully evident in this painting.

A chicken house is also, of course, a euphemism for a place where sex workers ply their trade. Brown frequently targeted American culture’s puritanical and hypocritical attitude towards sexuality. Curiously, in Brown’s chicken house the windows seem to reveal the presence of singular occupants in every room, except the room at the top, in which a couple can be seen. This suggests that rather than being a place where people go to co-mingle, Brown’s chicken house is mostly where people go who are too afraid to connect with others: a house for chickens.