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# Out, Damned "Spot"! Guerilla Work Dogs Canine-Killing Artist [UPDATE 2]
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/out-damned-spot-guerilla-work-dogs-canine-killing-artist/
- Published: 2014-09-05T17:02:42.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:44:02.000Z
- Description: A guerilla installation critiquing the artist Tom Otterness's 1977 killing of an adopted dog has appeared in the 14th Street – Eighth Avenue subway station, Gothamist reported.
- Author: Mostafa Heddaya
- Tags: News, Tom Otterness, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:03 (2014, 2015, part 1)

![otternessdog14th](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/09/otternessdog14th.jpg)

(photo by Jen Carlson/Gothamist, used with permission)

A guerilla installation critiquing the artist Tom Otterness’s 1977 killing of an adopted dog has appeared in the 14th Street – Eighth Avenue subway station, Gothamist [reported](http://gothamist.com/2014/09/05/otterness%5Fshot%5Fdog%5Fstatue.php?ref=hyperallergic.com). The station is home to [*Life Underground*](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life%5FUnderground?ref=hyperallergic.com), an extensive commission of Otterness’s small bronze figures, and the surreptitious work mimics his style, mocking the artist’s lucrative career while depicting the crime that continues to cast a pall over his reputation.

Otterness, who in 2011 [claimed](http://observer.com/2011/10/the-dog-killing-woes-of-tom-otterness/?ref=hyperallergic.com) to earn millions of dollars annually from public and private commissions, has frequently found himself the target of protest over his “Shot Dog Film”; a 2011 San Francisco project of his [was canceled](http://abclocal.go.com//story?section=news/local/san%5Ffrancisco&id=8434984&ref=hyperallergic.com) over objections from animal-rights groups. In 2004, when Otterness was included in the New Museum’s *East Village USA* exhibition, Gary Indiana mercilessly objected, writing in *New York* that he was “a sculptor of limitless nonentity … \[who\] once upon a time, adopted a dog and then shot it to death for the fun of recording his infantile, sadistic depravity on film.” The artist [officially apologized](http://observer.com/2011/10/the-dog-killing-woes-of-tom-otterness/?ref=hyperallergic.com) for the *Shot Dog* piece in a statement to *The Brooklyn Eagle* in 2007 when the controversy resurfaced in connection with a DUMBO commission.

This isn’t the first time illicit artworks have mimicked the aesthetics of authorized subway art. In 2012, the street artist Rae [inserted a sculptural work](http://www.12ozprophet.com/news/street-artist-rae-hits-new-york-city-spring-st-subway-station  ?ref=hyperallergic.com) in the stairwell of the A/C/E subway station on Spring Street that echoed the style and palette of a larger official installation in the station. The piece has reportedly avoided detection as unauthorized and remains in place.

![OTTERNESSART14](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/09/otternessart14.jpg)

A new image shows a smaller third figure, depicting a man holding a camera (referring to Otterness’s artistic documentation of his act) that was part of the installation (image courtesy Gothamist)

**Update 1, 1:15pm EDT**: Gothamist has revised their story to reflect comment they have received from the MTA, which is now removing the sculpture (apparently made of plaster), and to add a statement from Andrew Tider, the artist behind the piece, who writes (in part):

> “The piece was not really about calling Otterness out for the Shot Dog video. It’s about calling him out for not including himself in Life Underground.  
>  
> Life Underground seems to be about (among other things) corruption and questioning unchecked capitalism. The sculptures I added place Otterness (the shooter figure) within the system that he (as the artist) is wagging his finger at.

**Update 2, 6:01pm EDT:** The work has been removed. Here’s what remains:

![IMG_5632](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/09/img_5632.jpg)

(photo by Hrag Vartanian/Hyperallergic)