CANISCOPE

A small chapter in the book Dogs, published in 2023, this collection of 56 forms was drawn by Jochen Gerner in KOH-I- NOOR two-tone coloured pencils (blue and red) on old bar notebooks, in a furtive gesture of note-taking and graphic experimentation. Leaving aside felt pens with pigmented Indian ink in favour of a clear, uncluttered line. Sublimated by the famous two-tone television pencils, Caniscope examines the canine question in a radically different style.

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 their coat. The lines are densely juxtaposed, parallel or criss-crossed, wavy, trembling or straight, creating a catalogue of fluffy materials.