We are now three (or is it four?) months into this pandemic. With each week, I have experienced varying waves of uncertainty (paired with anxiety). Businesses closed. ICU capacity was reached. Masks were enforced and then they weren’t (and now they are). Then, in late May, the death of George Floyd, the protests that followed as well as the reckoning with systemic racism.
Always in the periphery either sleeping or staring at me, my dog’s presence was constant and unchanging.
Earlier this month I completed a large painting that explored working from home, place, and the pandemic. My dog sat near dead center.
Untitled (2020)
Acrylic on canvas
43 x 65 inches
When I started the painting, I wanted the dog to stare directly at the viewer and invite the viewer into this odd setup. Once I completed the painting, however, I identified my dog’s unblinking, demanding stare with the bespectacled billboard eyes of The Great Gatsby. They were confrontational and watchful. I played with this idea further further with the following two works:
Seen by (2020)
Oil Pastel on Yupo Paper
11 x 14 inches
Observed (2020)
Watercolor on Yupo Paper
11 x 14 inches
My dog is sensitive and often anxious-either shaking due to a noise or the temperature being one degree too cold. After completing two previous works, I sought to depict the dog, which had taken on the role of the collective conscience, undergoing extreme worry and anxiety over the actions it witnessed. I created the following series of oil drawings of my dog panting under duress (from the perceived dangers of a storm).
States of Anxiety (2020)
Oil Pastel on Yupo Paper
(4) 8 x 6 inches
Afterwards, I created a gif using the four pieces. I prefer the drawings (as a set). However, the gif, its quick change from one image to another, does imbue a greater sense of anxiety.
Gif of States of Anxiety (2020)