Rachel Kushner (p. 534) in Owens, Laura. Scott Rothkopf (Ed.). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Distributed by Yale University Press, New Haven and London. 2017.
"The idea of having a theatrical reading of a scene from my novel The Flamethrowers at 356 Mission was all Laura's idea. ... Richard Prince considered playing his own alter ego, John Dogg, but could not make it. Alex Israel was John Dogg with full Warholian gusto, to pose a real oxymoron. He played it flat and affectless, in a black turtleneck and sunglasses."
From : Venus over Manhattan an exhibition of the works of John Dogg, Frieze Masters, London October 5 - 8, 2017.
" ... The pseudonym John Dogg was born when Colin de Land invited Richard Prince to show at his gallery. Prince accepted the invitation under the condition that he exhibit work under a pseudonym, and de Land provided the name John Dogg. These works were first exhibited at American Fine Arts, Co., Colin de Land Fine Art in 1986, followed by a landmark solo exhibition in 1987, held jointly at neighboring venues American Fine Arts and 303 Gallery, on East Sixth Street. Since de Land’s death in 2003, Prince has on occasion returned to the John Dogg pseudonym, which he uses to make works or author texts.
Dogg worked predominantly in the vernacular of American car culture, specifically elevating the hobbyist’s obsession with the car as object and trophy to the realm of high art. He consistently returned to the presentation of otherwise mundane car parts, such as wheels and tires, which he mounted in wood or Plexiglas boxes. He also worked with enameled tire cases, which he mounted on the wall, working with the readymade in an almost Duchampian mode. Dogg’s work demonstrated a keen sensitivity for incorporating language and text into his work, as evidenced in a series of tire cover sculptures with the pseudonym etched or painted onto the work’s surface.
Dogg’s work engages issues of appropriation and labor alongside discussions of car culture, signage, and the American dream, all of which became vital thematic concerns for Richard Prince later in his career. The work produced under Dogg’s name in the 1980s gave Prince an experimental space to address and master the subjects that became central to his practice and critical success. With Colin de Land as co-conspirator, Richard Prince created a body of work under the name John Dogg that engaged the core concerns of his practice, and mounted an effective critique of the white-hot art market of the 1980s. ..."
John Dogg was/is a tool in Prince's practice (as a conceptual artist).
I am (to date) unaware if the relationship between artist and pseudonym was at all collaborative or simply informed Prince's practice by freeing him to explore concepts using a different identity with interests atypical to his own.
How important is it to the viewer to see the impact of the alter ego in the work?
How important is it for the artist to show the tools applied in the creative process?
Is telling/describing the tools enough?
Trying to think of the relationship between an artist and a pseudonym used by the artist expressed as a syllogism (a bit rusty in this).
Richard Prince is John Dogg. [A = C]
Other people are John Dogg. [B = C]
Therefore, John Dogg is Richard Prince and other people. [C = A + B]
Richard Prince is John Dogg. [A = C]
Other people are John Dogg. [B = C]
Therefore, other people are Richard Prince. [A = C]
Richard Prince is John Dogg. [A = C]
Other people are John Dogg. [B = C]
Therefore, John Dogg is Richard Prince and John Dogg is other people [C = A, C =B]
Richard Prince is John Dogg. [A = C]
Other people are John Dogg. [B = C]
John Dogg is not Richard Prince. [C ≠ A]
Therefore, other people are not Richard Prince. [B ≠ A]