aterrier

Ed Ruscha Dog, 1994
Print on handmade paper

Gain a parking lot; lose your artists. That’s Venice mediocre future if work on a segment of a parking lot (slated to lie between Abbot Kinney Blvd and Electric Avenue) continues as planned this August 14.

Though the lot, which will feature metered parking, has long been touted as a benefit for the valued small businesses of our community, VenicePaper has been informed that the paving of its first phase-between Venice Boulevard and Palms Avenue-will entail the removal of a much-used, albeit shabby work-area situated behind studio spaces occupied by artists Ed Ruscha and Laddie John Dill. Prompting the low-key Ruscha to consider leaving Venice after years working here.

Ruscha is said to be loathe to ask for favors. But this isn’t about a favor for him. This is about a favor for Venice.

Both economically and philosophically it benefits Venice, and our Abbot Kinney business district, to keep Ruscha, Dill and as many artists as we can in within the area. The parking area adjacent to their studios should remain unpaved and undisturbed.

As for Dill, he has given a lifetime of favors to Venice. On his back, Art Walk was built. Lest you think Art Walk simply drove dollars to the Venice Family Clinic, think again. Art Walk was the mega-marketing vehicle that trumpeted the unique lifestyle Venice offered, creating the vibe that sold a thousand art lofts.

Between the two men, they have helped put Venice on the map, changed the way the world sees our community, elevated it’s place in the artworld and supported a multitude of Venetians and local businesses.

From Venice Paper

Portrait of Maurice, an art dealer’s dog

Andy Warhol (Artist, with his dog Archie), 1973, Photograph © Jack Mitchell)

This was the cover art for “Tintin in the new World” by Frederic Tuten.

But carping is absurd when dealing with a novel so richly inventive and so subtly textured. Who can resist a text that interpolates Snowy’s thoughts and canine romances into the running narrative, that drops certain corny paragraphs into quotation marks in order to suggest their bogus novelistic tone, but that somehow remains — dare I say it? — sincere?

Edmund White reviews Tintin in the New World for the New York Times

John Baldessari: Dog (Blue), Canoe/Shark Fins (One Yellow), Capsized Boat’, 2001, lithograph

I call it the Baldessari 6-minute 30-second Boiled egg ritual. Time, place: Ambiance is important – kitchen with view of garden – 6.30a.m., the L.A. and New York Times, filtered coffee (Peet’s), filtered water, no cream. My dog (Labrador) matches floor colour), dozing. Dress: T-shirt, gym shorts, moccasins.

I usually do it perfectly. Sometimes my dog will awake and bark at a squirrel outside. The outside door must be closed or else I hear my neighbour’s wind chimes. No sound except for opera, off cable tv (easier than hunting for a cd).

I’ve been a year working on an egg white omelet. Too many variations, and each must be perfect.

Upon reading this I realize it is really an attempt to do something perfectly and flawlessly. Everything else during any day is dicey, although my plan each day is to have that day go perfectly. (I suppose it’s one of the reasons I do art.) What it boils down to is micro-utopia.

John Baldessari. Yours in Food

Dog Trumpet is the vehicle for the musical activities of brothers Peter O’Doherty and Reg Mombassa. They formed the band in 1990 to record and play their original songs. They play as an acoustic duo or as a full band with various line-ups of guest musicians.
Reg and Peter were long-time members of Mental as Anything but they left the Mentals at the dawn of the third Millennium to concentrate on their artwork. Peter is a painter and has exhibited his pictures in Australia, England and New Zealand. Reg has exhibited his paintings and drawings in Australia, England, New Zealand and Italy. He is also a t-shirt designer for Mambo Graphics.

From DogTrumpet.com.au

Alexander Calder:

My purpose is to make something like a dog, or like flames; something that has a life of its own.

A mobile is like a dog-catcher. A dog-catcher of wind. Dog-catchers go after any old dog; my mobiles catch any kind of wind, bad or good.

I’m like my mobiles; when I walk in the streets I latch onto things too.

Chained Hound by Wendy Klemperer

Hardware as Art Display in Brooklyn

One night last month, Joe Franquinha (who moonlights as Maddie, the canine mascot of the New York Liberty women’s basketball team) closed the store after the last customer left and turned the artists loose to set up their work. They didn’t have to worry much about equipment for mounting their work, since anything they might need – screws of any length, wire filament, not to mention power tools – could be found on the store shelves.Some of the pieces have already been sold. The store takes no commissions, and the prices of the artwork (from $20 to $9,800) are not posted; interested customers must ask at the cash register.

One of the more dramatic pieces on display is “Chained Hound,” by Wendy Klemperer. Bolted to a wall, frozen in mid-snarl and lunge, the dog is made of welded scrap metal and rebar and partly covered with a plaster skin.

This is Ms. Klemperer’s third year in the show. In her first year, 1996, she modified a metal sculpture of a dog to make it more consistent with the aesthetic of the show, welding nails to its body and giving it raised hackles.

“It was startling,” she said, “and it had a different presence to it, and I later noticed that the silhouette of the sculpture had a real affecting quality

New York Times. July 6, 2008

William Wegman
“Doguerreotype”, 1988
Color lithograph, photography and digital imaging
27 x 24 inches, Edition of 55

Do Not Disturb by Yoshitomo Nara

Teach Dog To Read Basics
13th October 2006
Author: Ande Waggener

Teach dog to read? Can it be done? Yes, it can. You can teach dog to read.

Why would you want to?

Well, even though Fido is never going to read a book or magazine, his ability to understand a written word as a command can come in handy. The teach dog to read techniques can help you with special situations.

Life has a tendency to throw curve balls. There may come a day when you have difficulty speaking. Maybe you just have laryngitis, and you can’t call your dog. Or maybe you have a more serious condition.

More likely, your dog may lose his or her hearing someday. At 14 years old, my dog has lost most of hers. I now use hand signals to communicate with her, but I’m working on teaching her to read too.

Teach dog to read instructions aren’t as complicated as you might imagine. The step-by-step process of teach dog to read is pretty straightforward. Read the rest of this entry »