A touch of Goldie

Photography

With her knack for posing and a mesmerising stare, Goldie, aka 8lb Pooch, is taking Instagram by storm.

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A touch of Goldie

WORDS BY Four&Sons

Instagram is no longer purely the domain for humans—these days every dog, cat and baby has their own carefully curated account. But as we know, what may be cute and interesting in the eyes of doting parents often comes across a little mundane to the masses.

Not so Goldie, the Brooklyn-based Chihuahua and muse of 8lb Pooch, whose social media followers are currently in the thousands and steadily rising.

Goldie’s human, visual artist Klee Van Schoonhoven, intersperses Goldie’s face and body with collage, cut-outs and photomontage, reinterpreting Goldie like a four-legged Cindy Sherman (who incidentally features on Van Schoonhoven’s list of muses).

Goldie originally belonged to a close friend but the pooch was gifted to Van Schoonhoven after many years of dog-sitting slowly turned into unabashed love. From here it was only natural that the artist turned the natural poser into the subject of her own artistic endeavour.

Originally the surrealist images were created using pictures Van Schoonhoven already had, but as these began to run out, she started doing daily shoots. Photographed using only a table-top back drop and a couple of lights, the account showcases Goldie flaunting her “mesmerising stare” (says Van Schoonhoven), with the pup known to dramatically toss props aside at their conclusion.

At ten years old Goldie may not be in the same shape as when she first became a shooting star, but her work remains as much fun. As Van Schoonhoven says “a couple extra pounds are a bitch’s best friend as you get older”.

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All images courtesy of 8lbPooch
@8lbpooch

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