Art&Culture
Run dog eat dog
We revisit Christopher Wool’s celebrated monumental statements.
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Dogs and
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Run dog eat dog
‘Bad Dog’, a painting by Christopher Wool recently exhibited at a group show in New York, triggered this sudden need to revisit the artist. Looking again at Wool’s art I am reminded of the importance of having guts and keeping a strong point of view.
Like most, I first fell in love with Wool’s celebrated black stencilled words on crisp white canvases. The monumental statements make you wonder, laugh out loud, are in-your-face and immediately engaging. The messages usually evoke a feeling not dissimilar to eaves-dropping, forcing you to fill in the gaps and think for yourself. The way words are laid out, bold and interrupted, so graphic that their beauty hits you later. As art critic Elizabeth Kley stated: “Wool is one of our leading postmodernist painters, whose works manage to combine Jackson Pollocks aggression with Andy Warhol cool.” It is no surprise the American artist calls New York home.
Always exploring the qualities of painting, Wool regularly works with spray guns, silkscreen ink, enamel and layered photography. Wool’s painting are shown in major museums and galleries around the world.
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All paintings and photographs by Christopher Wool
wool735.com
Art&Culture
Off the Leash
by Emma Guthrie
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Best in show
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Art&Culture
Canis Lupus Familiaris
by Amy Freeborn
The Natural History Museum at Tring, Hertfordshire, England, opened its doors in 1892 to showcase the private collection of Lionel Walter, 2nd Baron Rothschild. Today it still holds the largest collection of domestic dogs on display in the UK.
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Sausages and Food
An extensive selection of work by Welsh conceptual artist-come-photographer Keith Arnatt is currently being exhibited at Tate Britain. The show includes one of his most renowned series, Walking the Dog (1976-79), a captivating collection of black and white portraits of dogs and their owners looking straight into camera. Until 11th August 2013.
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Art&Culture
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Art&Culture
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Susan Sabo’s latest project, I Dreamt of Dogs, helps the California-based photographer to deal with unfinished business.
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Dead Dog Beach
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One Day In History
Norwegian photographer Andrea Gjestvang wins the Sony World Photography Award for her moving collection of portraits of surviving teenagers of the Utoya massacre. Fifteen-year-old Iselin Rose Borc (featured) recalls: “In the period after Utoya I had a really hard time sleeping. I was afraid of the dark and suffered dreadful nightmares. My mom and I decided that getting a dog might help me, so I got Athene. Now she sleeps on top of my stomach every night.” That’s why they are called man’s best friend.
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