My Dogs: from the Sketchbooks of Gus Cohen

MY DOGS: From the Sketchbooks of Gus Cohen From the Introduction: I'm proud & happy to say that Gus Cohen has been a friend of mine for many years now. Usually a few days a week I go around to his house by Barkers Creek in Castlemaine for a couple of hours and we drink some wine and mostly talk about art and poetry... and sometimes his art and my poetry. All throughout his house are books about art & artists and hundreds of his wonderful paintings and drawings, sculptures, collages and sketchbooks. I've never heard anyone else talk so lovingly and passionately and intelligently about art & his fellow artists and his own creations that are as varied as one could imagine. Colourful, large abstract paintings so beautiful they hurt one's heart, and small gems to feast the eye and soul upon. Hundreds of dark sketches of the creek out from the back door and other places in the district done from his memory... and small self-portraits, humourous and sad at the same time. Constructions made of wood or found objects that are beautiful in their simplicity and originality. And then there are the sketchbooks... so many of them on so many subjects using so many different pencils and drawing implements over the past 50 years or so.... a treasure-trove of insights into our world and his. Among all his sketches those of his beloved dogs have appealed to me over the years perhaps more than any others. I have only known two of the dogs, the last two... Brewser & Dot, but feel as though I've known the others through these wonderful, loving and at times humourous drawings of them. So, here they are and some of his words about them and I hope to follow-up this publication with more from the sketchbooks of my great friend the artist Gus Cohen. Paul Smith Poet, Author, Translator, Publisher & Bookseller. 214 pages.