Don't let the dog guide you.
"Omentejovem began this work as a quick, playful sketch. No plan, no concept; just the pleasure of drawing. A post by a fellow artist nudged the start; with the gist being: have some fun while creating, without overthinking. The Brazilian chose yellow as the background color because that, to him, reads as happiness. Then he let the lines on his iPad run. What appeared actually quite surprised omentejovem: a dog, whilst the artist is more of a cat person. However, he kept the first sketch as a base and redrew it in another register. He felt it meant something.
Since there’s no dog in omentejovem’s life, the dog and its leash are visible as pointillist lines in the end result: present but ghosted at the same time. Like an image of a constraint that isn’t actually there. The bone, by contrast, is fully visible and with more detail. This is the object of play, the lure, so to say. From there, the artist concentrated the scene around two other anchors: the figure and the horizon, and held back on additional color until much later. First, he wanted to understand the dog’s ‘behavior’ and its reason for being there.
Interestingly, omentejovem has felt his subconscious reach for more recognisable forms over the past months – faces, bodies, objects, animals – but without abandoning his typical sense of abstraction. This piece sits on that seam, with the ‘dog’ shifting into a kind of mystic persona – recognizable but interpretable in many ways. The dog’s long leash that comes with the imaginary pet is another key in this work. It suggests range but still marks a limit; a mental one. Hence the subtitle the artist gave this work: Don’t let the dog guide you.
My Dog Has a Long Leash doesn’t insist on a single reading; omentejovem is explicit about keeping his own meanings brief so viewers can bring theirs. What remains though, is a clear structure of tensions: figure and horizon, presence and outline, freedom and restraint. The ground bears the trace of paws; the sky carries the marks of thought. Between them: the distance a mind gives itself, and the choice of who is leading whom."
Words by Nina Knaack, editor-in-chief at Silk Art House.
Artwork released with Silk Art House 19th November, 2025.
