Editor’s Letter
Welcome to our first issue of Hachiko for all the dog-lovers out there. Hachiko is a magazine to share creative ideas of people around the world whose ideas may be influenced by dogs. It is to appreciate the visual culture and the presence of dogs in our life as a companion and a family. It is not about giving you instructions on how to care for your dog, it is rather a visual magazine full of ideas focused on the interest of you and your dog. Each issue will introduce several artists and their works, as well as covering inspiring shops and easy DIY projects. This issue’s first feature story will be about what you would take with you when traveling with your dog. The second feature will be a daily walk of a creative and his dog. Our name Hachiko, came from the actual dog named Hachiko in Japan. His heart touching story will be shared page by page at the end of every issue for you to collect. Feel free to rip it out and make it into your own book with personal touch. Enjoy.
DIANE LIM & JULIA CHO, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Contents
6 WILLIAM WEGMAN 11 GUS & ABBY 12 MICHEL KECK 15 BADASS BROOKLYN ANIMAL RESCUE 17 WHAT WOULD YOU TAKE WITH YOU? 24 VINCENT DELBROUCK 28 TIMELESS DOG BED IDEAS 32 WLFHND 33 CARLI DAVIDSON 36 FORM AND FUNCTION? 38 CLOUD7 39 WALK WITH ADRIENNE AND TIGER 46 DAVID HOCKNEY 49 HACHIKO STORY
5 CONTENTS
William Wegman
“I don’t feel lonely when I’m around them,” he says. “But I love
also listening to them. I always make sure I spend some time just seeing what they’re really doing. Especially outside, you know, when you’re alone with them. Because so many people including myself fill in a whole vocabulary for them that is ours and not theirs. I remember spending some time for the first time with Man Ray, my first dog. I didn’t talk that day. I just listened to what he was listening to, the whole aura of smells and sounds and sights and things that he was picking up on during that day. Most people who have dogs see them as their dogs: ‘Come on, boy,’ or ‘Fetch’ or pat, pat. But they’re really teeming with their own thoughts.” After teaching at various universities, Wegman’s interests in areas beyond painting led him to photography and the then-infant medium of video. While living in Long Beach, California, Wegman acquired Man Ray, the dog with whom he began a fruitful twelve year collaboration. A central figure in Wegman’s photography and videos, Man Ray became known in the art world and beyond for his endearing, deadpan presence. His photographs, videos, paintings, and drawings have been exhibited in museums and galleries throughout Europe, Asia, and the United States.
7 WILLIAM WEGMAN
You were an artist before you started photographing dogs. Were you always a dog person? In retrospect I think I always was. When I went away to art school, the dog who was given to me in my Christmas stocking when I was six years old couldn’t come with me. I was an artist in my mid-’20s when I got Man-Ray. It was around the time I moved from true photography, video and performance art to just taking photographs. This dog was pretty young, only six weeks old, so he bonded with me in a very intense way. He would get stressed if I wasn’t looking at him every second!
May-Ray was a pet before a subject. How did he come to be featured in your work? It was hard not to include him. I would bring him to my studio in California and tie him up in the corner, but he would whine and chew things. I noticed that when I focused the camera on him—both still and video—he became really interested in what I was doing. I imagine that’s what happens with a hunting dog: When a hunter is loading ammo, his dog knows he’s doing something serious and becomes calm. So Man-Ray became really workable. And the fact that he was so spooky looking turned me on to finding ways to use him, even though I had an aversion to cute dog photographs because while my work was funny, I was very serious about it.
Do you anthropomorphise your dogs in real life, too? I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what Man-Ray was thinking. I remember spending all day following him instead of him following me. It’s really remarkable how alive their senses are. Certainly through smell, but their vision is so different too because they use their heads like we use our hands so they can see sideways and upside down. But yes, it is irresistible to throw human words into their brains and think of them as your children.
What are you working on now? I just finished a children’s book of Flo as a puppy, where I painted around the photographs [Penguin]. I’m publishing two other books soon after, so there should be a big splash of publicity in the fall. I’m also working on some large paintings for a show in Sweden in late May.
9 WILLIAM WEGMAN
I spent my whole life
watching and caring for them and trying to figure out what works for them.
Gus and Abby is an animal inspired paper goods company specializing in one-of-a-kind illustrations. All products are created by owner, Shannon Alexandra. Her designs have evolved into a modern line of various products such as art prints, notepads, coasters and more. Gus and Abby introducing fresh new designs. The company is based in Toronto Canada, where products are printed and manufactured.
Visit gusandabby.com
11 GUS & ABBY
is continuously growing its line of paper goods and is regularly
Michel Keck
A self-taught artist, Michel Keck lets rawness guide her life. Af-
ter switching to a raw food diet reversed serious medical conditions the Midwest native experienced, Keck became “the Raw Artist,” and her drive for the organic and the unprocessed clearly conveys in her striking dog collages. Using found textures, Keck merges realistic representations of dogs with fantastic colors, shapes, and patterns. Internally driven, and emotionally charged, Keck’s original abstract art and mixed media paintings have been described as “dark yet uplifting simultaneously”. Keck works in a wide variety of mediums. When viewing Keck’s portfolio for the first time one is under the belief that the works presented are the creations of several talented artists. The diverse collections however are the efforts of just one. Explosive abstract art paintings, contemporary mixed media collage art, recycled art, spiritual paintings and her intricate and obsessive circle drawings are just some of the styles you will uncover when you delve into the world of The Raw Artist.
Badass Brooklyn Animal Rescue
networks of rescuers, fosters and volunteers in 2011 and has since found homes for some 900 dogs sprung from shelters in the rural south.
15 BADASS BROOKLYN ANIMAL RESCUE
Sara Alize Cross founded the grassroots
Badass Brooklyn Animal Rescue is a 501(c)3 non-profit, all volunteer network of rescuers, fosters and volunteers who work together to rescue, rehabilitate and find homes for sweet, loving, adoptable dogs from pounds in the rural south. The dogs we rescue are in danger of imminent death as they are on the kill lists at very high volume, high kill pounds. Some of these animal control facilities use extremely inhumane practices like gas chambers and heartstick to euthanize the dogs and many have kill rates over 90% before rescues get involved.
Scan to make donations or for information and questions, visit badassbrooklynanimalrescue.com.
What would you take with you when travelling?
A germaphobic hipster, Moon, and her hyperactive Boston Terrier, Nemo.
A fashionable nerd, Daniel, with his Bishon, Happy.
Maria, who loves road trips and camping with her Cocker Spaniel, Tiger.
Vincent Delbrouck
Vincent Delbrouck is a photographer, but he may as well be a
philosopher, a nomad, a monk. His work is strongly influenced by travel and living within other cultures, by searching for meaning both inside and outside his own head. For Vincent, photography is akin to the practise of meditation. “There is no ghost in the machine, no entity, no work closed for ever, coherently elaborated in time as the perfect image of the artist or the distant creation of a documentary practice. There is no book, light or capacity which should not be a mouvement, sensibility as a real fiction, strong empathy. This is something I should write maybe here, to begin with the concept of self, the wrong idea of Descartes, the nature of my life always stuck by the train of thoughts and emotions. What beauty beyond, what outstanding relative nature of a simple name in the dust of life, moment after moment, days, months, years! The joy of being no one but a peaceful change with chaos.� -Delbrouck
How did Ten Dogs happen? I shot Ten Dogs whilst working on the project As dust alights in Nepal and India. I had already taken one image of a dog in Mexico in 2009 which I really loved and those new images came quite naturally. It was a way to ‘train’ my eye, to focus on something within the city. There are plenty of nice dogs in the streets of Kathmandu and Leh.
In your photography there’s a recurring theme of sequence, rhythm, repetition. What are you exploring? Interconnections between elements, I guess. Repetition comes from the love I have for certain things: animals, plants, persons. I try to create a rhythm of colours and elements with the material I collect, in books, installations, etc. It’s my way of sharing the flow of energy I always find in life.
Many of your shots have a poetic, melancholic quality. How does your mood influence your work? It is difficult to explain how it is influencing the work, but it is there, yes. Ever changing moods, emotions, life and lights going here and there, like breathing in every direction. I am trying to find more peace with all that now, trying to control and not control at the same time. Not to be so nervous and chaotic, a way to stay open and wait for the moment new stuff is coming to me. It can create anxiety of course, but at the same time this is just the way I work, I wouldn’t be happy planning every detail in my head before working on a project.
What is your fondest memory from travelling? Going to the beach at Playa del Este near Havana with Cuban friends, altogether in the same car, on a Sunday afternoon. All mixed with memories from Reinaldo Arenas’s book Otra vez el mar and Carne de perro, written by Pedro Juan Gutiérrez (my favorite book). It’s a strong memory. Not really about the beach, more about something coming form the surrounds of the beach: the parking lot, the sandwich we eat there, the cafeteria, the broken car, the smell of salt, the buildings on the road, moving altogether, kids and parents and cousins. With another layer of loneliness and lost love.
Timeless Dog Bed Ideas
These dog beds are made with accessible materials with no specific instructions. The design of each bed will be unique since many aspects can be modified.
31 TIMELESS DOG BED IDEAS
They share an adventurous spirit, louder barks than you would expect, and a passion for the relationship between hound and human. Together they are WLFHND. The founder, Claire Wolfson, was inspired by her dog named ‘Bean‘ and his miraculous recovery from his major reconstructive surgery. His spirit inspired a small accessories company that has been up and running for the past couple years and now has led to the launch of WLFHND.
Visit wlf-hnd.com
Carli Davidson
Raised on a secret volcano island by cheetahs, Carli is adept at
communicating with wildlife. This allows her to capture impressive images of animals in any kind of scenario you or your client can think of. In 2011 her series Shake became a worldwide success, garnering her millions of website hits and putting her firmly on the map as a top animal photographer. She currently lives in Portland with her husband Tim and her pets Norbert and Yushi as well as a rotating cast of foster dogs. She took her first darkroom class in a lowly closet in her high school, and she and her best friend spent their freshman year printing overdramatic photos of each other in graveyards. Carli moved to the Pacific Northwest in 2001 where to pay for her education she took on a series of odd jobs that included work as a tattoo shop clerk, a bouncer, a photographer for the house of representatives, and eventually animal care and photograhy at The Oregon Zoo.
33 CARLI DAVIDSON
When I work with animals, I am an ani When I work with animals, I am an anima When I work with animals, I am an anima When I work with animals, I am an anima
nimal. When I work with animals, I am an a mal. When I work with animals, I am an anim mal. When I work with animals, I am an anim mal. When I work with animals, I am an anim
Form and Function?
In an impressive tribute to form and function, Japanese design and architecture firm Nendo adds extra beauty and creativity to their first collection of pet accessories. The three-piece Heads or Tails collection comprises the afore-mentioned dog house, a chew toy, and a food and water dish, all comprising clean lines and multifunctioning capabilities. Indented and formed with tessellated triangles, here a leather dog hut can be flattened to a comfortable cushion, a rubber bone becomes a ball and a ceramic deep water dish can be flipped into a shallow food bowl. Available in black or white (but of course), these are the sort of pet accessories that will up the ante in any home.
Visit nendo.jp
CLOUD 7 is a new Berlin-based label offering stylish, contemporary products and accessories for dogs and dog lovers. The lovingly designed high quality products have been created to enhance and strengthen the relationship between people and their beloved pets. The brands foundation and philosophy is based on the core principles of eco-friendliness and fair trade. Founder and Designer Petra Jungebluth has enjoyed a long and successful career in fashion design and marketing for iconic international brands. Her passion for fashion and design coupled with her love for dogs grew into a desire to develop her own canine accessories brand.
Visit cloud7.de
Walk with Adrienne and Tiger
39 ME AND MY DOG
A dog is man’s best 41 ME AND MY DOG
friend, and vice versa.
Finally, I thought it would
be a good idea to show the car as if one could see inside.
David Hockney
BMW and Paris Photo celebrate the 11th anniversary of their
partnership in Los Angeles. After last year’s M1 BMW Art Car by Andy Warhol last year, the company will present the BMW Art Car by David Hockney. The car was painted nearly twenty years ago in Los Angeles, and incorporates the city’s sunlight and winding roads. Born in England in 1937, David Hockney has been one of the most flamboyant and influential protagonists on the international art scene since the early sixties. He completed his studies at the London Royal College of Art in 1962 and soon belonged to the elite circles of “swinging London”. With his work he developed his very own form of international pop art and achieved great popularity. The subject of his work is people and their environment. His pictures depicting the sun, swimming pools, palms and blue skies are particularly well-known. Hockney has notably lived and worked in Los Angeles since the 1960s.
47 DAVID HOCKNEY
The Gravity Espresso & Wine Bar is community-focused small business with a commitment to helping others. Gravity supports local musicians and local charities on Friday nights.
Gravity espresso & wine Bar is a small but high-end coffee bar that complements coffee and pastry products with a well-selected wine and beer menu. It located in the Inglewood Art Block. It is perfect place to sit, relax alone with a cup of coffee or share a bottle of wine and a cheese platter with friends. It often invites many artists and opens live music night. Its not just to introduce artists but to create option of paying little amount of donation that 50% goes to the artist and 50% goes to local charities.
Visit cafegravity.com
Hachiko Story
History is full of famous individuals; ambitious kings and
mighty emperors, gifted artists and composers, brilliant scientists, brave explorers... the list is endless. Often they posses great talents, riches and poweer, but occasionally you come across a figure in history who is just an ordinary, quite, humble individuals, such as a dog named Hachiko. Every year in Japan, amid the chaos and the neon lights of modern Tokyo, there is a festival that celebrates the memory of Hachiko. There have also been two life-size sculptures made of Hachiko. Hachiko’s image has appeared on a Japanese stamp, and public places have been named after him. Hachiko the dog is famous. But why? Hachiko’s life began in 1923, in Odate in the north of Akita, on Japan’s Honshu Island. Hachiko was a white male Akita, a breed of dog named after Akita, where they come from. They stand about half a metre tall and are coated with thick, fluffy fur. In 1931 the Japanese Government declared Akitas the national dog. In 1924, at the early age of two months, Hachiko moved from Akita in the far north to the bustling great metropolis of Tokyo, about 500 kilometres south. He had been adopted by Mr. Eisaburo Uyeno, a professor at what is now Tokyo University. They lived together in the busy Shibuya district.
1