“Le Chien Qui Fume” (The Smoking Dog) is an ongoing fiction project. The ultimate icon of low art is transplanted into an imaginary slice of art history with the aim of generating satire and critique, proposing the view that the narratives that surround art are unavoidable – and possibly desirable.

This project aims to occupy a position somewhere between visual art (maximalism) and historical, albeit fictional, biography. It also provides an opportunity to deconstruct the nature of painting, not by isolating the elements and the performative dimension of the medium (as is the case with some current practice) but by using it as a source of pseudo-documentation and parody.

Michael Vale teaches in the painting departments at Monash and RMIT. He has exhibited widely as a visual artist and has also worked as a set designer, scenic artist and TV writer. He is close to completing a PhD about smoking dogs.

Supported by the Faculty of Art & Design, Monash University