Reception: Thursday, September 18, 6-8 pm
The artist readily admits that once his muse, Fay Ray, gave birth to eight puppies in 1989, several baby Weimaraners multiplied pictorial possibilities exponentially, leading to a myriad of new directions from formal experiments to narrative tableaux: “Up close, standing, sitting, or lying naked before the eye of the big camera, all body parts become landscape, a forest of trees, a topography of hills and valleys, earth and boulders in a shoreline of endless connectivity. Bodies overlap, collide, recline, extend, and appear as shadows, reflections, negative shapes”. While a number of these images continue Wegman’s predilection toward dressing-up his subject in zany costumes and disguises, others appear as serious portraits -- poignant studies of his dogs’ elegant physiognomy verging on abstraction.
In these technically and stylistically rich prints, one sees many art historical references. Stop Action, 2003 bears affinities with the locomotion studies of the late-19th century photographer Eadweard Muybridge. Evergreen, 2003 recalls such Renaissance portraits as Piero della Francesca’s Portrait of Federico da Montefeltro, while other works spoof the fashion photographs of Richard Avedon or the performance-photographs of Vanessa Beecroft.
William Wegman, an important presence in the art world for thirty years, has achieved a remarkable breadth of audience, from museum curator to dog lover to children around the world. First known for his conceptual photography and video works made in the 1970s, Wegman is a master of many mediums, chief among them painting, drawing, and photography. A retrospective of his work originated by the Kunstmuseum Lucerne, Switzerland in 1990 traveled to the Centre Pompidou, Paris, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York among other venues. Another mid-career survey organized by the Addison Gallery of Art, Andover, MA is scheduled to open in 2005.
Gallery hours are Tuesday-Friday, 10am-6pm, and Saturday, 11am-6pm. For further information, contact Betsy Senior or Laurence Shopmaker.