Dog Art Today

Category: Dog Art Sculptures

  • Akane Takayama’s DOG Sculptures

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    London artist Akane Takayama is in the process of turning school children into installation artists.  Over the past year she has promoted sculpture workshops in schools throughout the city and with her student collaborators created over 700 dogs.  Now, with the help of the children and volunteers, the dogs get to gather in London parks, go on walks, and carry wishes for the future tucked into their collars.

    These images were taken at the first installation at Paradise Gardens on June 19 and 20, 2010.  Next Takayama and her collaborators will turn Clissold Park into a dog park on July 31, 2010, and then onto Holland Park on August 8, 2010.  Visit her DOG Sculpture blog for more information.  

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    During the course of the installation people want to move the DOGS,
    children want to carry them off, bash them, cuddle them or just tear
    their ears and tails off. Our team of volunteers spent the days
    replacing and repairing the DOGS. We took the position that this
    interaction was an intrinsic part of the installation, as the public
    interacted the installation changed and moved in response to that
    interaction. The public, unwittingly were manipulating the installation
    and adding to it in their interaction and thereby re-defining its
    appearance.     — Akane Takayama

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    See more of Akane Takayam's work at her website.

  • Barnaby Barford’s Dog Art

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    Barnaby Barford's     found and repurposed art.   Brills.

    Via The Jealous Curator.

  • Walking the Dog I, II, III by Peter Randall-Page

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    Walking the Dog I, II, III by Peter Randall-Page

    Via artdaily:

    LONDON – Dulwich Picture Gallery will celebrate its 200th anniversary in 2011 with its first ever acquisition of a piece of contemporary sculpture, purchased and presented to the gallery by the Art Fund in honour of Dulwich’s bicentenary. The work, called Walking the Dog I, II,III, is by leading British sculptor Peter Randall-Page, who is currently enjoying rave reviews for his exhibition at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Inspired by the Gallery’s famous building and its three founders, it is the first sculpture to be included in the permanent collection…

    …At the Director’s invitation, Randall-Page then spent time at the Gallery, drawing and taking photographs, getting to know the building and the surrounding landscape. He was impressed by the simple proportions of the Gallery, designed by Sir John Soane in 1811, and was particularly struck by the “running dog” pattern that Soane had used as a decorative feature on the outside of the Gallery. This pattern related very closely to the naturally occurring patterns that have always informed his work. Other sculptural motifs on the Gallery – urns, and sarcophagi – occur in threes, relating to the Gallery’s three founders: Mr and Mrs Noel Desenfans and Sir Francis Bourgeois. In creating Walking the Dog I, II,III, Peter Randall-Page chose to echo these by selecting three boulders, carving the running dog motif on their curved surfaces.  (read more)

    The running dog pattern is an architectural motif  “consisting of a repeated stylized convoluted form, something like the profile of a breaking wave.”  It is also sometimes called the Vitruvian scroll after Vitruvius, a Roman architectural historian of the 1st century BC.   I did not know that.  Thanks, Encyclopedia Britannica.

  • Woman with Dog: Part II

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    Woman with Dog by Duane Hanson, 1977

    I feel I did a disservice to Duane Hanson (1995-1926) in Friday's post.  I didn't mention that he was an artist who specialized in lifesize fiberglass sculpture of incredibly real-looking individuals.  Several people commented on what they thought was a photograph of a woman with a dog, when in actuality it is a sculpture. 

    Alex Geana of the Huffington Post reviewed this year's Whitney Biennial and reported one of his favorite pieces was Woman with Dog because the guards had taken to standing perfectly still behind the work, turning it into a performance piece, asking the viewer "to ponder is the statuesque guardian, living or inanimate."  I probably should have used this photo to begin with…

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    Read Alex Geana's review here.  And Artnet's Jerry Saltz writes about Duane Hanson's 1999 Whitney retrospective here with several photos of more amazing works.

  • Bad Dog by Richard Jackson

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    Bad Dog by Richard Jackson


    Recently featured at the Armory show in Manhattan, Bad Dog by Richard Jackson is one of the many pieces that had a "bite that hands that feeds" vibe.  Read why:

    [It] represents a dog lifting its leg in satiny cast aluminum. The idea is that when a collector buys it and installs it
    in his home, the dog will, by means of attached plumbing, spray red
    paint on the proud new owner’s wall. This calls to mind that chestnut
    of modernist lore, Jackson Pollack
    drunkenly urinating in his patron Peggy Guggenheim’s fireplace. The
    moral of the story being: artists are wild, and collectors are tame,
    but not above vicariously enjoying the wildness of artists.   — via Ken Johnson, The New York Times

    Hilarious.  Contact Hauser & Wirth if you're interested.

  • The Lack Dog by Alexis Liu

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    Looking for the perfect dog to fit your busy life and small space?  The Lack Dog, created by designer Alexis Liu, might be the perfect breed.  Cleverly constructed from an Ikea Lack table and inspired by her own dog, Noodle, this little guy is also an Honorable Mention winner in Designboom’s recent The Intelligent Hand competition, an excellent pedigree!

    Before…

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    He can also do tricks…

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    Who’s a good boy?

    Via Designboom.

  • Elliott Erwitt’s Needle Felted Dog by Domenica More Gordon

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    When dog artist and DAT reader Nancy Schutt sent me this link to Domenica More Gordon's needle felted dogs now on view at The Dog Show at The Workshop in Edinburgh, I knew (although no mention is made of it) that one of the pups looked very familiar…

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    "Dog Legs" by Elliott Erwitt, NYC, 1974

    How very meta, as Rachel Maddow would say.

    Top image is available as a greeting card here. See more of Domenica More Gordon's work here.  For more great dog art, visit Nancy Schutt's Good Dog Art too.

  • Miguel Angel Madrigal’s Dog

    Just when I think I have seen it all, someone creates a new way to combine dogs and art…

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    Miguel Angel Madrigal’s work showing at 2009 ArtBo in Bogota, Columbia. Via Jezebel and courtesy of my friend Allison.

    Photo credit: GUILLERMO LEGARIA/AFP/Getty Images

  • Jen Bekman’s Dog

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    I don’t think Jen Bekman has time for a real dog right now as she works tirelessly to bring affordable art to everyone via the internet through her brilliant 20 x 200 project.  But this little guy, Maynard the Bulldog,  purchased at Woolworth’s in 1989, brings great charm to her cozy, eclectic apartment.  If you’re feeling that Autumn nesting instinct or you are still putting off actually hanging your artwork, stop by Design*Sponge to see Jen’s place.  Trust me, you will be inspired.

  • Affection by William Zorach

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    Affection by William Zorach

    William Zorach (1887-1968) conceived this 15" bronze statue with a golden-brown patina in 1933.   I love how it appears both ancient and modern.  It is lot 33 at Christie's American Paintings Sale on September 29, 2009. Estimated price: $10,000 -$15,000.  Bid here.