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| Vandana Jain - Throw a Dog a Bone |
When a dog whines and begs for the dinner plate sitting at the table, it usually probably that a few table scraps will work to placate him, defining the phrase “to throw a dog a bone.” New Jersey City University’s Too Much! gallery showcases an art piece similarly titled Throw a Dog a Bone, and rather than representing the pacifying of a dog, this piece represents placating an alcoholic’s craving.
Vandana Jain creates a set of cartoonish-looking dog bones that look like they could have come straight from Looney Tunes. Using a variety of plastic bags from New Orleans liquor stores and bodegas, the bones rest on a chain resembling a ladder. The title reveals some nuance behind the piece. Give a dog his bone, as you would give a man his drink, presumably. As far as bad habits go, drinking outshines the crowd. Rather, drinking is a relatively normalized activity for a person to do. Take a glass of wine with your meal, a beer after work, and a shot to make the night easier. Our society is and has always been over saturated with an abundance of options when it comes to consumable items, and only doubly so when you get to the liver rotting items that keep you addicted. Every grocery store, bodega, and family oriented restaurant chain will all carry some sort of alcohol menu. Your nearest glass lies a two and a half blocks walk away from you. Why, exactly, is it so easy for a person to get a drink?
John Berger wrote “Clothes, food, cars, cosmetics, baths, sunshine are real things to be enjoyed in themselves. Publicity begins by working on a natural appetite for pleasure.” Liquor is something else that can, and has, been enjoyed in itself. Alcohol purposes itself to alter your brain chemistry to make you feel enjoyment, and as such has been enjoyed by the masses for nearly as long as civilization has taken place. It’s not difficult to imagine why alcohol is such a booming industry, one that only became more profitable as people turned to their home liquor cabinets during this past year and a half of a pandemic. And alcohol serves as much of a business as it is a hobby. Why else would George Clooney, who was already known for his presence on the big screen, start selling his own brand of tequila? Casamigos earned Clooney millions of dollars with every line of salt and wedge of lime served. Dozens of celebrities create their own liquor companies to sell to their fans, using their own images to promote the brand. Susan Sontag wrote “Images which idealize are no less aggressive than work which makes a virtue of plainness (like class pictures, still lifes of the bleaker sort, and mug shots). There is an aggression implicit in every use of the camera.” When celebrities posts a stylish looking Bahama-pic of them sipping their new cognac on a beach, who exactly are they selling to? Why are they selling it? And why is your local corner store suddenly carrying their line in the back aisle?
The Interventionists, Trespassing Towards Relevance explores the growing idea of overconsumption and abundance of advertisement. “It is instructive to look at the increasing growth of visual culture over the last twenty years. Could it be that the commercial flooding of the visual landscape has inadvertently led to the visual exhaustion of its viewers?” What is it that makes alcohol an item in demand at supermarkets. Is it the overabundance of booze, or is it the overabundance of other factors. During the Covid pandemic, the alcohol industry experienced a historical boom in numbers. Rather than the ease of access to liquor, it is possible to contribute this to the ease of access to media, and reality. All the while, the same celebrities and CEOs are only making more and more money off people.
Jain’s Throw a Dog a Bone masterfully utilizes the iconic look of New Orleans-esque liquor store plastic bags. New Orleans stands as an incredibly unique city, where no open container drinking laws are established in the French Quarter. This unique law makes the city known by many tourists for its drinking potential, and the large Mardi Gras festival held once a year attracts many drinkers and party goers alike. The unique style, history, and culture of New Orleans makes the piece all the more dynamic to the viewer. At first glance, the cartoon dog bone bewilders you, but upon reading the proper label, allows you to recontextualize the piece. To craft liquor store bags into dog bones creates a powerful allegory. Dogs crave bones, and as simple animals, humans crave a drink. The overconsumption of alcohol just serves to make it easier for us to hunt our next drink down than it is for our dogs to dig up a bone. Humans are beggars going for their next glass. To be fair, It’s always five o’clock somewhere.
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| Jain - Throw a Dog a Bone |
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| Miranda Barrington - Selfie |
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| Jain - Throw a Dog a Bone |
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