Entry Wk 15.2

Jumbo Veggie Dog, Upper Clackamas #10, a 60" x 54" painting comprised of oil and garbage on canvas by Robert Dozona in 2009, is composed of bottle caps, empty containers, shampoo bottles, candy wrappers, paint brushes, sponges, hygiene items and a Jumbo Veggie Dog wrapper and other items collected from Oregon’s rivers while Mr. Dozona was on fishing trips.  A landscape depicting a river flowing between groves of trees as the sun rises in the distance is painted over top of the discarded human refuse.  Lines are formed from the objects themselves, rhythm is achieved by repeating items such as toothpaste and tooth brushes. 

          One of the main reasons I like this piece is that is combines the use of found objects in the form of collected garbage with an Abstract composition.  While viewing the art the eye is at first overwhelmed by the goings on, but in time it focus on some piece of trash that the viewer finds appealing, such as a Hershey wrapper.  As I considered the components I started searching for how they worked together to relay the Artist’s message.  Only as I backed away from it and sat on a step as if it was a tree stump or log did I see the river scene and soon realized that I was looking at man’s pollution of nature and could imagine being Robert Dozona, sitting on a stump near this river and seeing the same thing.
  
        This painting emphasizes the wastefulness of our society as well as tells an intimate story about us as a society by displaying what we have thrown away.  Just as archeologists dig up ancient rubbish, the discarded waste of our civilization tells as much of a narrative about us, and possibly even more of one, than just studying the materialistic contributions we have made.  The fact that the artist personally collected the garbage in an effort to preserve the natural resources of the forest and river and to save the indigenous animals from the impacts of such pollution should encourage others, me, to do the same. 

          I believe Mr. Dozona is saying we are too wasteful, both in our consumerism, as well as in our lack of conservation and disregard for our environment.  His use of garbage reflects our consumer waste and pollution on an individual level and leaves me with the feeling of empowerment, that there is something I can do to fix the problem.