My Dog Sighs shortly before the opening of his latest exhibition at the Play Dead tattoo studio this evening. Looking relaxed, as well he could, with the queue starting to build a couple of hours before opening time. On a freezing November evening. By opening time the queue snaked (well, kind of sprawled) all the way down the street.
There were no last minute hitches - other than that the bottom half of the mural outside had to be repainted due to . . . being tagged over. Not a big hardship for MDS - the guy loves to paint.
During the day today Play Dead did good trade in My Dog Sighs tattoos and before the show there was some proud showing off. Eventually it was time for the big reveal. MDS and sidekicks removed the paper taped to the windows and we're off.
As I mentioned earlier in the week My Dog Sighs is equally at home painting big and painting small. Have a look at these two pictures: to the left of Everyman's feet (where it says Brook Club) those are double doors. That's how big that is. And the message in the bottle, well that is the size of a thumb nail (it is, it's right here in front of me). I tell you if you need to commission a scale picture of angels dancing on a pinhead, he's yer man.
If you're an artist, a performer, a pop group, an actor and you've got a successful style, routine, song or role there's got to be a temptation to keep on repeating the formula. Change your style and you're in danger of losing your audience. Some people get away with that for a while but the law of diminishing reasons means that it can't last forever. The really successful artists, performers, bands, actors develop, mutate, take chances, take risks. Look at those Beatle boys. Billy J Kramer, Freddie & the Dreamers, Gerry & the Pacemakers had one idea and ran with it and those that still can are still running with it, playing I Like It and Ferry Across the Mersey at Butlins Weekenders in October. The Beatles though. They developed, mutated, took chances, took risks. From 1963 to 1967 they went from I Wanna Hold Your Hand to Sergeant Pepper.
And what is their legacy? I was at Abbey Road yesterday, just one of many, gathered in gangs of four, to hold up the traffic while gamely but lamely trying to recreate a Beatles album cover. No-one does that for Gerry & the Pacemakers. Or Oasis.
Where does My Dog Sighs fit into all this? Well, MDS has some signature pieces. Everyman, eyes and painting on old tin cans. What if, what if that's all there is? I mean, we all love Everyman, the eyes and mournful looking tin cans. But if we've already got the debut album . . .
So here's Everyman. And below there's the eyes, Some cans down under. And nothing to worry about. There is so much going on with these works. The box below is phenomenal. The photo really doesn't do it justice (actually all these pics were done on a low quality camera phone - apologies). My Dog Sighs continues to develop, mutate, take chances, take risks. The future's bright.
I've just seen the news from Paris. I'm going to stop writing now.
A brilliant dance where nobody leads at all
My Dog Sighs selfie with crowd. The Corn Poppy is in there somewhere.
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