Essay G

"anything for my dog" is a pencil and gouache wall drawing of a manipulated digital image.

Most of the artwork I create is mediated in some form or another by a digital process. For example, in an earlier installation (a cuban tie, a cuban divide, 2004) I drew a magnified, blocky version of a tiny digital print under one large wall painting, which resulted in an interesting mix of painterliness and pixilation. Since then, I'd wanted to work in this fashion again to push those curious results even more.

This being a show about wall drawings, I tried something uncharacteristic in my work: I emphasized process over content and chose a totally fluffy subject: our lunatic love of pet dogs. Although banal, this subject still served a purpose. I wanted to draw my viewers close, and this gallery happens to be located in a popular dog-friendly neighborhood.

The drawing also needed to be monumnetal in scale in order to best present a magnified view of a pixilated line. If the drawing is too small, the jagged pixilated lines appear smooth. At this large size, you can mimic the switching of visual scales on a computer with your feet: walk close to the drawing for a true view of the pixel components and step back from the wall for an impression of smooth, uniform lines. This is the kind of optical trickery I wanted my viewers to experience.

To create this drawing, I magnified the manipulated image 1200% and tiled it into 4 multiple blocks; printed those blocks onto 4 oversized mylar sheets; traced the drawing on those sheets with graphite; rubbed the graphite onto the wall; sharpened the lines on the wall with more graphite; and finally, added color with gouache paint.

The image is lifted from an advertisement of a party vendor who will come to your home in a bunny suit and serenade your precious pet. A recording of Johnny Cash's "Dirty Old Egg-Suckin' Dog" plays on loop. This wall drawing took a total of nine days to install.