My 6-year-old niece came over the other day and we sat on the couch and looked through the book Best in Show: The Dog in Art from the Renaissance to Today. Then she urgently asked for paper and paints and made me this work of contemporary dog art. Thank you, Layla.
London artist Charming Baker is influenced by “cheap books, heroes, girls, Zulus, odd-looking women, suburbia, da riddum, family, stories, horses, dogs, packaging, summer holidays, the smell of make-up and cheap perfume, powertools, tea, tomatoes, Britain in colour.”
He’s been painting pretty much unnoticed for over 20 years. Then in 2009, he signed with music manager Pat Magnarella and became an overnight sensation at age 47. Read about Baker’s path outside the traditional gallery system here. I found his work at Viennese artist Petra Hartl’s truly awesome dog art blog Hundkunst. Translation here.
Charming Baker’s website.
Seriously, visit Petra’s dog art blog. I think you will love it.
Petra Hartl’s website, too.