“ANDY!“ – Oxidation paintings by Mambo (2008)
Copper metallic pigment and dog urine on canvas, 30 cm x 40 cm
A series of “piss-paintings“ created in Rio de Janeiro during 2008 by the dog Mambo with the assistance of his master Eugenio who trained Mambo to piss on the copper painted canvases each time he said “ANDY!”.
Interview between Heike Wetzig and Kristofer Paetau (September 2008 & July 2009)
Did Mambo piss at command or spontaneously, according to his nature? He seems to be a true friend to his master. But you might have arranged a clandestine manipulation, confronting us with a Warhol-like series of art production in a continuation in time and by accident. What is the difference between this work and Andy Warhol himself pissing a painting?
I first met Mambo and his master Eugenio in 2007 when I was in a residency in Rio de Janeiro. Eugenio was working in a circus and he had just bought Mambo who was only a couple of weeks old. At that time I already wanted to realize the piss painting project with Mambo but he was too young and my residency was only 2 months. When I moved from Berlin to live in Rio de Janeiro one year later, I contacted Eugenio to see if we could go on with the project now that Mambo was one year old and I had all the time I wanted. It took Eugenio about one month to train Mambo to piss on the copper painted canvases each time he said “Andy!”. Then we made the first walks together, filming Mambo in action. By the way: Andy Warhol used to ask his friends, assistants and occasional visitors to piss on the canvases. So the main difference is the process of teaching a dog to piss on a canvas at command and to film this painting process when it first took place in the streets of Rio de Janeiro. Later on Mambo had his ’studio’ during three months in the backyard of Eugenios house, working on the paintings three times a day – each time Eugenio took him out for a walk.
What do you think about the artistic process and the obvious aesthetic value of this ongoing series, and how about the selling price?
I always liked the animal art productions that I saw on television when I was a child: elephants and monkeys painting beautiful abstract expressionism. I liked the idea of trying to make ‘conceptual’ abstract expressionist paintings with a dog and to copy Andy Warhols Oxidation Paintings that I love, because I see them as beautiful and irreverent statements on abstract expressionism – the official art at that time in the USA. The fact that paintings made by an animal can be as beautiful as paintings made by human beings is also thrilling me. And I like the fact that a chemical reaction can produce beautiful paintings randomly. Of course the results of the work are very much determined by how I prepare the canvas with the copper paint, how much and which type of copper pigments I use, what binder I use, what type of canvas I use and even more important is how Eugenio is manipulating the canvases that Mambo is pissing on. If he leaves them flat on the ground over night or if he puts them against a wall, how many times Mambo pisses on the canvases etc. So at the end it is a collaboration with a lot of surprises for me. But my main interest is the concept and the process behind the paintings. This series of paintings took me a long time to prepare and to carry out with the help of Eugenio and his dog Mambo. I don’t know what to say about the selling price. Until today I have only sold one small work in my whole life and I guess selling your own art on the internet is the last thing to do so that’s why I’m interested in trying it out.
Do you love dogs?
That depends on the dog. In my family we always had a dog called Tina. When Tina died my parents bought another female dog of the same race and called her Tina too. At some point I lost the count. There must have been at least three or four Tinas. Right now I am more fascinated by birds. In my small room in Rio I lived with a cockatiel which was imitating other birds and I recently made a project with a parrot which ended quite sadly.
You might have some basic ideas about the so-called bad taste, about popular culture and art, about communication, art amateurs and animals, or the importance of wit (in art). Would you like to talk about that?
I think bad taste is essential. Bad taste is not the same as lack of taste, bad taste is challenging our conceptions of (good) taste. Art needs bad taste, popular culture, amateurism and amateurs (lovers) – maybe also animals.
yeah! I like so much!!! ( está certo isso? hahaha) gostei muito! … tem uma novela, atualmente, em que um macaco pinta telas que fazem muito sucesso comercial… mas ninguém sabe que o macaco é o autor e uma pessoa se passa por artista no lugar dele…
enfim, Kristofer… só estou atualizando a situação daqui pra ajudar a você pensar…
até!
Nice paintings but I wonder what is the art in this project? The paintings are just a reference to Warhols paintings which were already a reference to action painting. The dog doesn’t know what he is doing… and the dog trainer just does his job.
Another case for SOS Animal Exploration? What’s next: Hamsters???
excellent! excellent! excellent!
this is piss !
boring
Emerging art !!! no doubt
I love the dog, but surely think u are sick fucks, but thats what makes u think its art! fode se essa tipo arte!
discussing about art is like discussing about taste..so in the end it#s useless and makes no sense at all…YOU LIKE IT OR YOU DON’T…and who cares HOW an artwork is created in the end??? the result counts no?! and I feel the structure of the “painting” is quite interesting….so ladies and gentlemen…care about ur OWN piss haha:) best
ahja forgot sobm…and both of them seem, that they had fun…so why offending them? just cause u got a boring life ? …waaaauuuuw how cheap:)
trop drôle, bravo !!
amazing and calme – at the same time… manolo w.
Mambo is a great artist!
who gives a fuck about if that’s art or not – it looks nice ! (just like a lot of that art shit).
I’d buy one if they weren’t so expensive
The problem with you guys is that you are self-obsessed juvenile imbeciles who get an enormous pleasure out of “provoking” others by trying ever so hard to be oh so unconventional. Dead parrots? Oh how shocking. Dead dogs? Oh how even more shocking. This sort of behaviour can be observed in every kindergarten: Let’s do something really unconventional to “shock” the adults and see how far we can push the boundaries. Children usually grow out of this sort of behaviour and so will you, eventually. Count yourselves lucky that you grew up in well-off families because only there bored people like you have enough time on their hands to worry where their next “piss of art” (oh how original! No-one’s EVER thought of that one before!) will come from. If you must hang around in South America and get on people’s nerves there then at least help out with some charitable projects. Do something sensible for once and dedicate your pointless existence to helping others less fortunate. Oh and just so you can sleep peacefully tonight: Yes, I am totally shocked and outraged and annoyed and provoked and incensed and whatever…blah…
so you pathetic assholes spammed me again with your bullshit non art crap fuckwad twattery …I now hate you…HATE you and I will now spread the word to all the curators and collectors that I know as to what fucktard spammers you are….I told you assholes to not spam me before…I am a very busy curator and artist and your pathetic need to make a big splash has now burned multiple bridges….
There are masterpieces, no doubt! It is dog mastervery good!
What about training a guy named Andy Warner (or Waldsterben or whatever) to piss each time you say “Mambo” to him?
For me it is aterrible thing what you call arte. It is just something to grab attention
perceiving a dog’s urination on “canvas” as art is proof of the systematical dumbing down of society …
idiocy is rampant…
When “Andy” did it – or had other male humans piss on the copper – he/they could hold the penis and therefore have some degree of control. What is missing here is Art intent on the part of the pisser. His intent is merely to please his master. Maybe slavery IS art? What do you think?
Le résultat est très beau et le procédé est en rapport avec des travaux antérieurs. ce n’est pas un acte gratuit ni provocateur. le travail est ludique et pose beaucoup de questions. bravo!
I like it. It’s surprising, fun and the paintings are beautiful.
A dog piss is still just – a dog piss
Bull shit never ends!!! Dog piss either!
Interesting to see that Mambo seems to have gone through a “blue period.” I think this is delightful.
have fun
As usual – u 2 guys never learn !
1. Andys paintings were already refering to action painting
2. It has been done many times before
3. There is great artist you should know if u call yourself “artists or tell u do art” – Gavin Turk ! he does sell these
piss paintings as well – but copper on canvas, and THATs a great reference.
4. You better piss off and make your stuff for some other crowd…not the international but more czechslovak..
why not using dogs dropping instead of piss in a contemporary way of life ?
boring- seen that 100 times.
…et puis on pourrait le faire avec un top model et puis un chihuahua, ce serait encore plus top…
J’emmerde les curators /I fuck curators
I like art / J’aime l’art
http://www.stupidforum.com/
funny, I like it. Koko
http://www.feurig59.com
Gavin Turks piss paintings are really boring compared to Mambos… Wof ! Wof !
Yes, it’s art. In this case Mambo is the medium & the piss paintings are the result of a conceptual process. Dogs know a lot about life & creativity. Many artists choose not to. I favour dogs in general.
another masterwork for christophers dinning room arangement !
also not to forget the impact on future encapsuled artesan toilette discourse networks … _ _ _ … _ _ _ …
This work is cool, no matter how many artists have made Pisspaintings and references to Warhol before
Great job.
Incredible how many people who comment negatively have absolutely no sense of humor!
Hope dog doing fine
Cool cat, hot dog! Sorry baby, but I don’t smok….
I am not anonymous, my name is Natalia Abalakova, I am visual artist, my comment is very, very positiv
funny fonnies? who cares?
For the 4th times I write something here. I absolutly don’t care about the work, the coolest thing is to say something cool about Jonathan Monk piss performing, “la merda d’artiste” de Piero manzoni, la machine à merde de Wim Delvoy…
…L’art qui fait caca dans sa culotte avec des cons de collectionneurs qui regarde de l’art comme des photos de cul sur leurs ordinateurs…
Hello, Im not anonymous I’m wahorl himself, I speak from my grave ah ! ah ! oh, sorry I’m going to pee, I’ll be back in a minute…
…and Jacques Lizène avec le mur des défécations…
Sorry but Andy is out off order in the toilet 😉
The idea is good, and funny relative to warhol’s work, but the result is bad,
Perhaps it’s important to be an artist, for pissing on the canvas…?
give me a break–ever head of andy warhol…?
As i don’t have any dog or others animals at home , i would buy only to have Mambo piss stink in my nose ! I think in the future we will have many types of piss to buy in supermarkets , internet etc . Great idea , i will patent ! Now , speaking about the art for itself , it is “Déjà vu” . Sorry , GREAT ARTIST ! William Monachesi
I am a busy curator and artist and I thought it was pretty funny.
Good dog! Maybe superior. But anything goes! Artistic? Not anyway!! ANDY!
Hello I’m a very well known and very busy curator in my toilet. Ah, shit ! just pee on me ! Fucking Andy always busy in rest room… Hey ! Andy ! finished ? oh my god there ‘s a huge dog above me. hello rouaf ! rouaf !
what ! you want talking about art ? you kidding you’re a fucking dog !
En fait ce que j’aime c’est la voiture de naze dans l’image 5 avec la fresque ! c’est la voiture du chien ? super con ten porin ! Faut pas croire les gens qui font l’art ils ont souvent des goût de chiot(e) ah !
J’ai bien rigolé à faire des post débile dans ce forum du monde de l’art incontinent.
Hi I am the artists…we love your comments and will send many more emails out to get your feedback
our next project will be from 2003 and will be a cat pissing in each of our mouths while we fellate an art collector on a stack of feces covered art forums to make a statement about identity and anonymity…
your comments are being printed right now on a scroll made of scaly skin from our impotent cocks to sell to old women through a phone system we have set up
my name is natalie abracadabra and my invisible comment is really positive….please google me and see my blog full of pictures of me eating jelly beans in a diaper
my name is pierre le poop…my comments are much more impressive and clever in two languages…look at me…i am the i in ironic
look at that fucking hipster
At last something productive comes out of dogpiss!!Thanx to you I start liking dogs again…
I’m really surprised by the quantity of smart asses giving lessons on the history of art. When one of them claimed s/he was a busy artist/curator I started to suspect that you write these comments yourselves (?)
Piss, almost shit. Let it piss on you and, please, avoid insulting Warhol or Manzzoni
berlin, germany, local time 22 07 2009, 10.30 am –
———————————————————————————————————————last week there was a seminar at humboldt university involving gerneration of accidental, aleatoric painting and music , of course jackson pollock was one of the earliest and in wider circles of the best known examples. material structures are important, it is more agreeable most of the time when they occur on buildings- blue copper-oxid structures in church roofs, or along railway lines, in order to watch structures pass along from a train window,
————————————————————————————————————————————————
then to see them when they become commercial framed objects in art galleries or in pretentious museum shows and rituals.
independent from the visual effecdt of the four copper plates you show, is the ritual in which they are presented.
since i use the MOUSE OLAF SHOW worldwide to present art or to ridicule it, to organise subversive situations, weith MOUSE OLAF,
i would say : ” this is a mouse olaf-way of presenting aleatoric art or structures , satirical, subversive, partly serious, a good mixture as it needs to be , nice that another animal is involved
Have you ever think the dog Mambo could be Oleg Kulig himself !
Hello, my name is Macel Duchamp and I’m an artist. I wanted to link this great Manbo piece of art to my R.Mutt piss fountain !
Kiss you all,
Marcel
Thank you interesting thoughts about Low Culture as High Culture etc.
Very interesting to give back the credits of Andy’s pis-works to the dog Mambo.
Andy & Mambo enraveled as pleasing-slave-dogs of Societe des Spectacles – OK! bUT What to do AFTER THAT?
I remembered me reading & archiving daily for a month (IN 1983) my turds as pictograms – and translating & presenting the whole message after a month as a Devine Testament for Me as the Newborn Jezus, etc. Bhagwan-Sect-parody! Lot of fun!
Without this kind of translation/projection-work-out you will stay in boring puberal anti-esthetics?
Good Luck! Greetings to Holy Mambo. ADBR*KKV*NL.
Hello my name is nobody, I’m 30 245th artists on the art world scène and I think Manbo art world is better than me but whatever I’m so lazy at the moment.
Hi there my name is Pablo Picasso and I painted my wife naked while peeing.
I like this work because it is popular in the sense that it can be “enjoyed” by a large public without art history knowledge and also by specialized art people who know about the Andy Warhol reference and other artists who have made similar works. This is a quality that most contemporay art does not have.
No ! you can’t like this work because it is popular ! It’s a lie ! Contemporary art taste is decided by only few people for the rest of the world !
Contemporary art never work for a large puplic. Without history contemporary art is nothing :
Piss + dog + history = contemporary art
Piss + dog + a large public = just piss !
Oh well if you can’t make art yourself just exploit your dog to do it instead. The work is actually very piss-weak.
I don’t see problems. They are just playing. If it is art, I don’t think so, but they are provocing the question about art. BUt thats something indeed of th 60-70-80 and this pure conceptual way of analysing what is art, is really passé. This work is not as relevant. But a lot of Maybe-art is not relevant nowadays. But maybe these artistst are getting on theyr way to make relevant art, and need this stage, to provoce the question about art. They don’t provoce me, because I am not shocked by a dog pissing, or a dead dog. I think its funny and not really interesting. BUt keep on working!
but I like the effect! I think you can sell this work to some bourgeois for some money.
Maravilha! Um cão crítico, que expressa seu juizo de valor fazendo xixi encima. Mambo conhece bem a qualidade da obra produzida por seu dono… ;))
very easy, hardly any work at all. Lazy? Yeah, definitely! You must love showing disrespect to your public (should you have any)
or art lovers in general, by calling your production “art”.
To me it is just “bricolage” It’s not even remotely funny!
Not very impressed (but having seen the dog’s carpet we know what to expect from a bunch like your!
“hey mate, some bourgeois will pay good money for this you reckon?” Sure, you mean when they come for the exhibition opening/vernissage and they fall in love with the fact that your horrible so called paintings actually stink the place out and this subtle whiff of dog piss you can have in your house too?
I would love to know some collectors who like paintings stinking dog piss! Please let me know if you find any?
yes, it is known that bourgois love piss
mt bom!! o mambo é tudo!!
Andy can piss great art.
And I love the last picture (you and Andy smiling)
By the way, I’m not Anonymous. My name is Karin de Visser. Kisses
You guys talk too much. Every time you open your mouths your very small works shrink some more. In the end, hopefully, they’ll disappear altogether.
How many times do I have to de-subscribe to your site?
Kristofer Paetau says:
“But my main interest is the concept and the process behind the paintings.”
So, I would like to give this short comment:
The concept is o.k.
The photos of the walk-and-piss are fine,
it would be enough to show the photos.
The result of the paintings is unimportant.
Why should I buy unimportant things?
Li Steger, artist and writer
Als Hund würde ich etwas anders pissen
Klaus Baumgartner
amokkoma