Dog Art Today

Tag: Los Angeles Times

  • Danger Dog Art From Nepal

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    Michelle Page is an assistant film editor, a world traveler, and a dog art entrepreneur.  Her burgeoning business started in 1986 when she first traveled to Nepal and fell in love with the hand painted "Beware of Dog" signs she noticed everywhere. 

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    As she returned over the years, she realized these wonderful pieces of outsider art were beginning to disappear, replaced by computer generated images with much less charm.  So she started collecting the "Danger Dog" signs and then tracked down the artists who painted them.  In June, she brought back 100 signs to L.A. (where she lives) and they sold out immediately.  In December, she went back for 300 more signs and set up her own website to promote them, along with displays at the Santa Monica Museum of Art and the Craft and Folk Art Museum.

    I think the most brilliant part of her business is that you can the commission a "Danger Dog" sign of your own.  Simply send Page a photo of your dog and chose the style and wording you like, and she will have 3 artists render your dog in the Nepalese tradition.  You pick your favorite and she sells the rest.  Each piece costs $200.  And, she is in Nepal right now taking requests.  This would be a terrific Father’s Day gift.   Visit her online photo album to see dozens of examples of dog, cat, horse, and parrot art from Nepal.  Really worth a click.  Here are some of my favorites:

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    Here’s a classic of farmers and feminists…

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    Beyond the lovely, cheeky, vibrant artwork you receive, you also have the satisfaction of knowing you are contributing to artists who find themselves competing with new technology and dwindling sales, that is until Michelle Page came along.  Be a global dog art patron and order yours today!

    Read more about Michelle Page in Bettijane Levine’s Los Angeles Times article.

  • Kara Walker: Wow!

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    Scape

    Yesterday, Allison Conant, Lisa Oxley and I went to The Hammer Museum to see the Kara Walker Exhibition: My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love.  I felt, perhaps, how viewers must have felt when they started to realize the magnitude, the variety, and the brilliance of Picasso’s body of work in the mid-20th century. 

    But, even that is not saying enough about what Walker is accomplishing.  Picasso may have been breaking new ground as an artist, but Walker takes you back over familiar territory and makes you look at the parts you refused to see — makes you look at a reality that history, time, and social graces have conveniently wiped away.  And as shocking as her violent, grotesque, and taboo subject matters are (rape, sodomy, defecation, pedophilia), what’s even more shocking is the elegance with which she presents these subjects, thus drawing you in by there beauty and making you not just look at, but truly absorb the truth of slavery, racism, sexism and tolerated violence in our society.
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    Cut

    It was a profoundly moving experience, especially coming to it after watching Barack Obama tackle the same issues as elegantly with words as Walker does with pictures.  Also, experiencing the exhibition with Lisa, a brilliant artist in her own right (see her dog portraits here), and Allison, a great literary mind with a Masters in American History, was the perfect accompaniment.  The images are so intense and her work is so overwhelming, I was fortunate to have some insightful friends to hash it out with afterwords.  If you get a chance to see Walker’s work, go!  And let me know what you think.  Trust me, you’ll need to talk about it.

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    The End of Uncle Tom

    Oh, there were only two dog art pieces in the show, Scape (above) and The Dogs which I couldn’t find a picture of on the Web.  As far as small creatures go, Walker seems to prefer pigs, rabbits, and monkeys in her tableaux.  It’s something I’d like to ask her about, as every cloud, drop of blood, and blade of grass is operating on 2-3 levels of meaning.

    Read more about Kara Walker’s life and work in this terrific and rare interview by Lynell George of The Los Angeles Times .

  • Dog Bone Paper Clips

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    I discovered these darling dog bone paper clips on ThisNext.com, my new favorite social networking site for shoppers. They were recommended by design maven, Laura Sweet, who is a blogger, jewelry designer, and the Oprah Winfrey of gun-shaped stuff. Read more about her and her ThisNext following in Alana Semuels’s L.A. Times article on Laura’s fabulous If It’s Hip, It’s Here blog.

    P.S. Laura recommends these clips so “Fido can start helping you pay the bills.” If he’s not good with numbers, at least he can help organize your tax receipts. April 15th is right around the corner.

  • Helen Lundeberg’s The History of Transportation Returns to Inglewood

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    On Saturday, Helen Lundeberg’s WPA 1940 mural The History of Transportation was given a place of honor at the new Grevilla Art Park in Inglewood, CA, its original home city. The 60-panel, 240-foot-long artwork depicting the “evolution of transportation — from Native Americans [and dogs] walking on foot to passengers boarding a DC-3” was badly damaged over the years by car accidents, cracks, and graffiti. In 2000, it was removed for restoration with help from a grant from the Getty Foundation. Finally, it’s back on view. Lovely!

    Read more in Suzanne Muchnic’s LA Times article.

  • The Theresa Duncan Tragedy Explored

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    I know Theresa Duncan wasn’t a dog artist. But she was an artist and she had a dog, and I have been closely following this tragic story (as have many of my readers.) Finally Kate Coe does some real investigative journalism and uncovers some truths about Theresa and her life in her L.A. Weekly piece The Theresa Duncan Tragedy.

    Photo is Theresa and Father Frank Morales taken shortly before her death. Her Yorkie’s at her feet.

    8.03.07 Update: Chris Lee sifts through clues in the LA Times today.