dog urine art

I was on the verge of moving on from #dogurineart. True, it's a blast taking photos of patterns made on the sidewalk by anonymous dog urine.  True, I finally have a subject that actually makes blogging enjoyable.  True, dog urine art gives me an opportunity to be irreverent, silly, funny, etc. while simultaneously providing me with a perspective from which I can express viewpoints on art,  and also explain and document my artistic process. But I was feeling like maybe dog urine art had just about run its course... My dear friend Susan and I were walking along East 89th Street yesterday.  To my surprise she told me she was enjoying the dog urine art! Now Susan is a sensitive artist with a refined esthetic, and an exemplary human being. OK, maybe I put her on a pedestal.  (She has a touch of kinkiness too!)  If Susan can see the artistry as well as  the irony, then maybe others will as well as time goes on. Anyway we noticed a fresh example ...

Even if you are not into #dogurineart , YET, and believe me, I can understand why that may be, you've got to admire the abstract composition, heightened by the addition of the wet brown to the variegated concrete. I am no fan of dog urine.  Believe me.  It's kind of disgusting. But after years of living in Manhattan, walking the city, looking at random patterns on sidewalks and seeing the effects of many things, from oil sheens on wet pavement to cracks simulating medieval  castles, I have begun to notice splotches of wetness against the dryness.  The liquid runs as liquids do, no doubt following the laws of physics, but with an additional element of unpredictability, as always happens when living things are also involved.

Ever since Duchamp hung a urinal on the wall and threw the art world into turmoil, the question of what Art actually is has been debated. The art world is one of a few places where copying, out-right plagiarism, and appropriation are permissible and even admired.  In this context, a random abstract pattern on a sidewalk, unnoticed or avoided by passers-by, formed without pretense by animals relieving themselves on a canvas of concrete pavement,  decaying into nothingness, and vulnerable to the elements, can inspire thoughts of randomness, frivolity, evanescence, and other aspects of the human condition...And...

Dog Urine Art (DUA) is best observed on the sidewalks of a big city, where the random patterns of wet dog urine assume abstract shapes as they dry on the pavement. If you live where your dog relieves himself/herself on grass, you are out of luck. Another reason that the city is good for DUA is that there are many dogs being walked in some of the neighborhoods, especially  mornings before work and at the end of the day, providing plentiful material. Don't get too close and don't overthink it. Just observe with the eyes and imagination!