Tag: art

Complex Shit Wreaks Havoc in Switzerland

Complex Shit by Paul McCarthy

"A giant inflatable dog turd by American artist Paul McCarthy blew away
from an exhibition in the garden of a Swiss museum, bringing down a
power line and breaking a greenhouse window before it landed again, the
museum said Monday.

The art work, titled Complex Shit, is the size of a house. The wind carried it 200 meters from the Paul Klee Centre in Berne before it fell back to Earth
in the grounds of a children's home, said museum director Juri Steiner.

The
inflatable turd broke the window at the children's home when it blew
away on the night of July 31, Steiner said. The art work has a safety
system which normally makes it deflate when there is a storm, but this
did not work when it blew away."

– AFP

Photo via From the Desk of the Mayor of Mitchieville.

Holy crap!

August 11, 2008
Contemporary Chinese Dog Art

Untitled by Tang Zhigang, 2007

The Dalai Lama supports Beijing hosting the Olympics, so I am going to enjoy them. (Yes, I still feel conflicted.)

Here is some contemporary Chinese dog art in honor of today's opening ceremonies. Click on images to see larger size for most.

Green Dog Series, No. 1 by Zhou Chunya, 2006

Spot No. 2 by Zhou Chunya, 2005

Mask Series by Zeng Fanzhi, 2006

Untitled by Li Jin

Untitled by Li Jin

Untitled by Li Jin

Untitled by Wu Junyong, 2006. (I think this one is actually a pig but I like his work.)

Hmmmm…everything seems a little grey. If you are in Beijing, the Chinese Contemporary looks like it's having and excellent group show until August 27, 2008 that includes works by Zhou Chunya and Wu Junyong.

See more of Zhou Chunya's Green Dogs here.

August 8, 2008
Sex and The City by 4 Afghan Hounds!

Korean Vogue presents Sex and the City interpreted by four Afghan Hounds! Click on images to see larger photos. The details, like Carrie's strappy heels (above), are genius.

I hope I didn't ruin the movie for anyone.

Via Merry Happy my favorite Korean dog art blog.

August 5, 2008
Recap: Just Dogs at La Motta Fine Art

Dogs and their owners showed up last Saturday for the opening reception of Just Dogs at La Motta Fine Art in Hartford, CT. As I previously mentioned, several of my collages and my film Dogs in Art are in the show.

Galley owner, Janice La Motta, was very pleased with the reception and noted that there was great range of dog parading in and out all day, surprisingly no duplicate breeds.

The fabulous Monica McLaughlin (no relation as far as we know) of Plans for Pups came in from Manhattan with her two Westies, Missy Paulette and Casey Jane, dressed up for the occasion and took some photos for me, as did fellow artist Jane O’Hara, in from Rhode Island with her husband, artist Gedas Paskauskas.

Gary Steinborn’s Venice Clay Dogs grace the window.

Janice La Motta and Jane O’Hara

Any Basset Hound art?

Monica McLaughlin with Missy Paulette, Casey Jane, and new friend who loved them both.

Dog art lovers mix and mingle. (See my movie on a pedestal. I love it!)

Moira McLaughlin originals.

Also, my collage Greyhound’s Goddess sold to art collector Linda Cheverton Wick and her husband, artist Walter Wick of the I Spy book series. Needless to say, I am thrilled!

Sold!

Just Dogs at La Motta Fine Art runs until August 22, 2008.

More Information:

La Motta Fine Art
11 Whitney Street
Hartford, CT 06105
860.680.3596

August 2, 2008
KG Studios’s K9 Corner

Scottie mosaic for Rebecca Collins.

I went a little Dachshund crazy yesterday. So today I've selected some breeds of some of my readers from the groovy KG Studios in Oakland. This band of four artists working out of a basement corner consists of KG and Peter Greenstein, Allan Dodge and Dave Hill, Sr. They specialize in mosaics, wire work, and Kaleponi Ukuleles.

I confess I have never worked in any of these media, but I know enough to know that making intricate curves out of squares is a true art. And I am duly impressed. Wouldn't you love one of these wonderful works for the bottom of your pool?

Pug mosaic in honor of Melissa's pug Emmitt who turns 12 today. Click here to wish him a happy birthday!

Bull Terrier Mosaic for Kris.

Fox Terrier for Amy

Poodle mosaic, just because I like it. If you own a Poodle, leave me a comment and let me know.

Click here to contact KG studios for more information.

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August 1, 2008
Ted Benvenuti’s Dachshunds

São Paulo artist Ted Benvenuti has added a new sleek breed to his sustainable dog bench line, the Dachshund, made from certifiably reforested Brazilian bentwood and carpentry shop leftovers. Sit!

Click here to read more about him and see more dog breed benches in my May post.

July 31, 2008
Kate Doyle’s Magic Hour Dogs

Garden Late Afternoon

I went to the NE*ORE*AL*ISM show at the George Billis Gallery last week to see my friend Lisa Oxley’s pieces (not her dogs but her Snowflake and her Menos Pájaro, which were both highlights). I’ll admit that Neorealism is not my thing, but the show had a vibrant LA-heightened-reality-vibe that was just right for a summer night on the edge of Culver City.

One piece in particular caught my eye, Kate Doyle’s Garden Late Afternoon (above). Gallery hopping with me is like going on safari. When I spot a four-legged creature, I must hunt it down to and classify it as dog or non. You can see for yourself it’s a joyful pup lounging on a magnificent orange blanket in the fading light of New England’s magic hour, and it’s wonderful.

Gallery director Anne Hromadka graciously introduced me to the artist, Kate Doyle, in town from New Hampshire. I don’t know if it was her Irish name or her immediate desire to discuss the dogs in her work, but I definitely felt a kindred spirit. She shared the story of one of her favorite works not on display, Dog Day (below), that depicts her friend’s dog Timmy’s first day he let loose and allowed himself to experience joy after years of abuse and skittishness.

Dog Day

I love that she thought to capture that specific moment in Timmy’s life and I admire the passion with which she still talks about that moment and the painting it inspired.

Here are several other works that include dogs. I think my favorite is the last one, for reasons any former Catholic schoolgirl will understand.

Asleep in the Garden

Diana and Actaeon

Self-Portrait as a Recovering Catholic

See more of Kate’s work on her website.

(Click on images for larger view.)

July 28, 2008
The Dog by Francisco de Goya

The Dog, 1820

Britain's The Independent is doing an interesting Great Art Series. They recently featured this powerful and mysterious painting by Francisco de Goya simply entitled The Dog.

Tom Lubbock writes:

It's a frightful picture of dream-like helplessness and despair. It's
also a demonstration of the power of simplicity. Goya's The Dog is one
of his so-called "Black Paintings", the sequence of murals, usually
with nightmarish subjects, that the artist painted on the walls of the
Quinta del Sordo, a country house outside Madrid he occupied in the
early 1820's.

Read his full analysis here. It's fascinating.

(Click on image for a larger view.)

July 22, 2008
Andrew Armstrong: Canny Canine Design

Trunk Bunk & Tree’t Bowl

Sculptor Andrew Armstrong has turned his attention to dogs. His latest designs, now on view at LA’s fith floor in Chinatown, include the eco friendly Trunk Bunk & Tree’t Bowl made from reclaimed wooden pallets and grocery bags, the Polynesian inspired Tiki Dog House, and my favorite the Shaggy Shank, a handmade dog rug in the shape of a steak.

I love seeing artists play with materials and words with such expertise. And how great is it that such lighthearted designs were created in the spirit of two very serious goals, spoiling our pups and saving our planet. Well done — get it — as in “How do you want your Shaggy Shank?”

Tiki Dog House

Shaggy Shank

July 20, 2008
Andy Warhol’s Ginger

Driving by the Weidman Gallery on Santa Monica Blvd. yesterday, I nearly rear-ended a car. Behold what was in the window, Andy Warhol's Chanel No. 5 poster. It's over 5 feet tall and it's spectacular!

It reminded me that I've been meaning to post one of the treasures I discovered while working on my film Dogs in Art, Andy Warhol's Ginger.

Ginger by Andy Warhol, 1976

I've done a lot of research on Andy Warhol's dogs via the Web, and I've never seen this image before. I like to think I am debuting on the Internet today. Btw, I found it in the book Best in Show: The Dog in Art from the Renaissance to Today by Edgar Peters Bowron, Carolyn Rose Rebbert, Robert Rosenblum, and William Secord.

The painting was done originally for Peter Brant who owned the beautiful Cocker Spaniel and was Warhol's friend and Interview partner. After seeing the finished work, he encouraged Warhol to focus on pet portraits as a new revenue stream. This lead to Warhol using stuffed animals as subjects (not toys but taxidermy). Not exactly what Brant had in mind, I bet, but creative none-the-less. Read more about Warhol's dog (and cat) paintings in Vincent Fremont's 2006 article on Artnet.

More Warhol Chanel No. 5 bottles via Andy Blog.

Looking at a Warhol I have never seen before, as well as drooling over his Chanel No. 5 poster in the window, reminds me anew how brilliant Warhol was with color. Sometimes I get desensitized to his mega-talent because his images are so iconic. They are almost hard to see anymore, because I can view them in my mind's eye without really bringing a fresh look to them.

Ginger is just perfect and so are the Chanel silkscreens. All the hype aside, Warhol really was a true genius.

If you're in Los Angeles, stop by the Michael Kohn Gallery for their current exhibition of Andy Warhol's black and white photographs from 1976-1987. I'm trying to find out if there are any dogs in the show. I will let you know.

In other news, color lovers – like Rebecca Collins — will enjoy two great color links I found today:

ColorFlip.com by Rafael Rozendaal is a mesmerizing Friday time waster via Angie McKaig's blog (she's the CEO of the Pampered Puppy, but this blog is more web biz than puppy bling.)

And Katherine Tyrrell's recent super-comprehensive post, Describing a Color Space – There's More Than One Color Wheel, on her informative Making a Mark blog.

July 18, 2008