With a formalist’s eye and an affinity for bold color, the photographs of multi-media artist William Wegman allow his viewers the opportunity to think, laugh, and uncover the world around us with his Weimaraner models.
Wegman’s large format photographs are disarming and fun even as they shift into landscapes, portraits, still lifes, and object studies. The artist describes his work as a collaboration with his models, each having their own temperament and agency during the photographic process. Wegman has been working with Weimaraners since the 1970s, and many of his dogs, including Man Ray, Fay Ray and Flo, have become pop culture stars in their own right.
These are not just dog photos! Line, composition, color and form take center stage in the photographs on display. Wegman invites us to take in the building blocks of art and consider the formal qualities of what we are seeing. Through his lens, we investigate movements, ideas and themes throughout art history. Multiple sections of a dog’s body become a craggy coastline barring us from a roiling body of water. Two cubes and a dog combine to create a minimalist sculpture. A tri-colored back drop interrupted by a set of dog legs transform into an exploration of color. Whether playful, coy or serious, these Weimaraners encourage us to stop and look more closely at the art all around us.
