DALMATIAN RUG, 1/96, 40" x 40"
This is not a painting of a Dalmatian lying on a rug. It is a painting of a rug printed with the image of a Dalmatian lying on it. The rug cost only about 5 dollars, so I was all the more charmed by the intelligence of the placement of the dog-image on the rug-image: the dog is off-center; the color combination causes the dog to "leap forth"; the dog is presented with exceptional realism; even the rug is off-center, as the design on the right of the rug does not complete itself, with red flower-things, on the left of the rug. So much subtle information for an object bought from a novelty catalogue and which will be almost completely faded if you wash it just once. So I brought the rug (a foot wiper) up from the kitchen and nailed it to the studio wall. I told myself, just be true to the vitality this already has, and give the painting the proper title, and the gods will nod. And this is the last painting in the book.