Beware of Dog

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DW Fitzpatrick

tighten the belt, sweeten the pot

2023

74 X 40 X 14 inches 

painted maple board, rubber, gold leaf, copper tubing, Thai bamboo stalk, golf club, gag rubber finger, brass framing, facet tap, measuring tape shard, paint stick, chain link fence fragment, flattened metal broom handle, painted cartoon man, 7 watt incandescent bulb, sisal, baseball bat, steel gate hook, wood pipe plunger, carved walking stick, wood stake, string.

On view April 2023 - December 2023

    Everyone agreed when I suggested I write a thing. I said I would write a thing, and all nodded in agreement. Later that day, much too close to bedtime, I looked at a blinking vertical black line on the computer screen. I think it’s called a curser. I just looked it up- it is a cursor. I spelled it wrong. I do love a Freudian slip! Aren’t they the best? Idioms are great too. Birds of a feather, and all the others. Wikipedia says there are more than 25 million idioms in the modern English language. 


    My original intent was to title this new sculpture : “ tighten the belt, sweeten the pot”. I still kind of like it, but not 100% sure. For now, it’s an open question. There is the obvious reference as the sculpture is belted. Right there, we are in a good place- because ‘belted’ is a great word. 


    I have recently lost weight ( like 15 lbs) due to not eating any carbs or dairy for 30 days. I have literally tightened my belt. Wikipedia says this idiom comes from the depression era. People at that time had less money, ate less food, lost weight and then had to tighten their belts. That is, men tightened their belts. Due to so-called you know what and you know who for years and years and years;  women people  weren’t able to easefully wear pants until the 1960’s in America. Wild! 


    And here we are with a yet-to-be-titled sculpture. Back to the bloody, stinking, winking, blinking cursor! 


    I think the whole thing might be a call to arms. Not that kind of arms. More of the human arm, with hand attached, doing things. I do know Montgomery Clift wore a gun belt extremely well in Red River. Hello! Glad to bring Monty into the room. 

    It’s more of a bundle of tools. A this and a that. A gathering up and getting to business. There is plenty to do and appreciate. With this flotsam and jetsam, situated in the most crafted, exquisite environs I could build, for your consideration. 


DW Fitzpatrick. 
April 2023