Caniscope

Caniscope is a group of 45 dog portraits drawn by Jochen Gerner in KOH-I-NOOR two-tone coloured pencil (blue and red) on old bar notebooks, in a furtive gesture of note-taking and graphic experimentation, between May 2021 and February 2022. Ghostly silhouettes adorned with two round eyes, creeping profiles held on a leash, hairy heads punctuated by a nose, these abstract modules resemble elliptical dogs whose analysis would have focused solely on the texture of the coat. The lines are densely juxtaposed, parallel or criss-crossed, wavy, trembling or straight, creating a catalogue of fluffy materials. Here is a canine trombinoscope featuring the midnight-blue Affenpinscher, the wavy Saint-Hubert, the sponge bulldog and the moustachioed Chow-chow, the real-life and fanciful breeds that are the trademark of the author of Oiseaux et Chiens. These fuzzy, endearing dogs go by the delicate names of Aéroglisseur, Vol-au-vent, Puli pull-over and Après-shampoo. These names come from the lineaments and the very nature of their coats, a reminder of the physical characteristics that make these animals so special.