70 Clock Galerie / Pull Ups and Psy-Op-20
Traction le Corgi, le Chien de Chasse et la Colombe Rose
The Corgie, The Hound, and The Pink Dove Pull Up
June 2020
The grand exertion is haunted by a miniature urban bestiary: corgi, hound, and pink dove painted low on the wall like marginalia in an illuminated manuscript. Their playful scale refuses the scaffold's industrial brutality. The dogs signify domestic loyalty an
Read the narration
The grand exertion is haunted by a miniature urban bestiary: corgi, hound, and pink dove painted low on the wall like marginalia in an illuminated manuscript. Their playful scale refuses the scaffold's industrial brutality. The dogs signify domestic loyalty and pursuit; the dove offers the compromised promise of peace or escape. Chakubie hangs above these neighborhood Easter eggs as a fourth animal, equally observed, equally classified, and perhaps no more free.
The title points toward three small pieces of painted street imagery: a corgi, a hound, and a pink dove. They sit low on a pale brick wall and are easy to overlook beside the larger figure performing the pull-up beneath the scaffold. Once noticed, the tiny animals change the emotional register of the scene.
Their scale is essential. These are not monumental murals competing with the body; they are visual Easter eggs embedded at sidewalk level. The dogs bring alertness and domestic familiarity, while the pink dove introduces a compact sign of flight and peace. Together they form a miniature audience beneath the suspended performer.
The work rewards slow looking. Its headline action is obvious, but its title redirects attention to the periphery, where neighborhood personality survives in small handmade marks. The pull-up becomes the entrance to a subtler act of noticing.
Because the animals are small, the title operates almost like a set of directions: look low, distinguish species, find the pink bird. Listening becomes an aid to seeing. The audio does not replace inspection; it sends the viewer back into the wall to verify each quiet discovery.
At the bottom of the white wall, a corgi, a dark hound, and a small pink dove form a charming secondary artwork beneath the main performance. The corgi brings comic alertness through its upright ears and compact proportions; the hound suggests scent, pursuit, and streetwise vigilance; the dove traditionally carries peace, spirit, or safe return. We cannot know why their maker joined precisely these three creatures, but the combination balances earthbound companionship with flight. Chakubie hangs above them like a fourth species in this miniature urban bestiary.
The animals reward close looking, but they may also be bait. A viewer proud of finding the dove can still miss the larger operation taking place above the miniature menagerie.
Opening the gallery…