‘Dog’ was made by Ruscha at a time when he said he “wanted to make something smoky and difficult to see.” A simple graphic outline is obscured by grasses against a grey, blank backdrop. Since the 1980s Ruscha has made a range of prints, drawings and paintings using simple, picture book images such as these in silhouette, which are then blurred or distorted. Many of these motifs are derived from childhood books and magazines. Ruscha has used the ‘mixographia’ technique to create this print, a process which allows deep texture and fine surface detail to be created.