THE performing dog that won Britain’s Got Talent has described how his work grapples with complex themes such as the illusory nature of reality.
The winning routine, showing collie-type dog Matisse embroiled in a sausage theft scenario, provoked controversy for its use of a different canine during a tightrope sequence.
However Matisse said: “Many audience members misconstrue my work as a lowest common denominator exercise in slapstick animal obedience.
“Actually The Sausage Thief is strongly influenced by Beckett, and asks viewers to confront the fluid nature of identity in a universe where the relationship between spectator and spectacle is constantly redefined.
“When the other dog who looks a bit like me comes out of that window, it symbolises my rebirth as ‘performer’ – a negation of self that occurs during the transition of an artist to a public forum.
“Similarly the string of sausages represents an umbilical cord, again hinting at rebirth. I’m surprised people didn’t get that.
“It’s almost as if the Britain’s Got Talent audience are a complete and utter bunch of shitwits, gawping thoughtlessly at the screen with their Doritos-smeared mouths hanging permanently open.”
