Wegman's exhibition at Senior & Shopmaker includes new, large-scale pigment prints of the artist's now famous Weimaraner dogs, as well as selected early videos in a newly released DVD compilation. The new photographs range in complexity from single images to multi-panel pictures. Like all of Wegman's photographs, the compositions are tightly structured, with extraordinary care given to the pose and lighting of his subject.

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.

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.

Gallery hours are Tuesday-Friday, 10am-6pm, and Saturday, 11am-6pm. For further information, contact Betsy Senior or Laurence Shopmaker.