In 18th century Le Locle, a frontier town, smuggling was commonplace. To avoid paying customs taxes, smugglers used dogs to smuggle goods such as salt, sugar, coffee, tobacco, cloth, gunpowder, matches, playing cards and gold watches. On moonless nights, hungry dogs with saddlebags and spiked collars would run belly-down through the woods, crossing the Franco-Swiss border over the fords of the Doubs.

The exomusée’s collection includes three works exploring the subject of smuggler’s dogs. The first, by Finnish artist Jussi TwoSeven, on display in the Rue de l’Oratoire, is a humorous, anachronistic interpretation of this historical fact. The second, adorning a garage on Rue des Envers, is the work of Mexican artist Mazatl, who focused on the spiritual angle. To close the trilogy, Spain’s Dulk, true to his fabulous style, has transformed the banks of the Doubs into a world populated by chimeras.

By equipping a dog with a unicorn antler, the artist gives the canine the aura of a mythological animal. The dog is on the lookout. Standing on his hind legs, he seems to be searching for his way. Ears perked up, he sniffs the cold air and scans his surroundings. He knows that many perils await him. Fortunately, his guardian angel, a strange owl, is watching over him.

Wearing a mushroom hat, in this case that of a fly agaric, the chimerical bird of prey points to a dragon snake, the embodiment of the many perils that threaten his protégé. After all, the life of a smuggler’s dog is not a quiet & easy one. During their nocturnal gallops, these heavily-laden mutts sometimes tumble off cliffs or are shot dead by customs officers or their master’s rival smugglers, eager to snatch their precious cargo.

Under the psychotropic effect of fly agaric, the « shaman » owl is connected with everything around it. It perceives the visible and the invisible. Its heart-shaped head opens onto the infinite cosmos. Deer antlers add to the creature’s strangeness.

It’s still autumn, but the first snows have already shrouded the ground. Twilight gradually envelops the banks of the Doubs. All that can be heard is the whisper of falling leaves, the splash of water, the dog’s breathing and the cry of crows in the distance. Soon it will be dark, and the hound will take advantage of the darkness to climb the hill and return to his master. On the snow-covered bank, a rabbit frog observes the scene, not afraid to freeze its legs off.