City Dog Howling at the Moon 1979

Richard Mock's 'City Dog Howling at the Moon' from 1979 is a linocut, pure black and white, immediate. It’s a process of reduction, a dance between what’s there and what's been carved away. I love how the whole image pulses with this energy; the buildings lean, the dog howls, even the fish in its bowl looks agitated. The gouges of the linocut give everything a raw, tactile quality. Look at the negative space formed by the rooftops and jagged peaks behind the dog. It is a brilliant, economical move, suggesting both a landscape and an urban skyline. It reminds me of the way Elizabeth Murray constructed impossible architectural spaces in her paintings. Ultimately, the piece is a conversation between the animal and the urban, the wild and the domestic, a song sung out of tune. Just wonderful.