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| The Happenings Feature - A new monthly story about a Brooklyn event that is extra special! |
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William Wegman surprises and amuses
by Mark D Phillips
I thought William Wegman was just about cutesy dogs. Then I saw William Wegman:Funney/Strange at The
Brooklyn Museum running from March 10 through May 28, 2006.
Wegman is an experimenter who happens to use a funny looking dog as his main subject.
His photographs are combinations of form and texture, shapes that capture the imagination. As Wegman
says, "They are shadows and hues. They inspire me."
His work is as accomplished in all mediums. I went to the show expecting to only see dogs. Wegman's paintings
and video work were every bit as captivating as his still images of dogs.
Wegman's work with his Weimaraner dog, named Man Ray, is what the general public recognizes him for.
Wegman, though, says he is a natural painter, receiving his BFA from the Massachusetts College of
Art and an MFA from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
He began using postcards in his artwork early on. His 8 feet by 16 feet oil piece, "The Tilted
Chair," combines dozens of postcards into a created world by painting the scenes that connect each
card and unify them into a type of "Sim City" on wood panels.
His fantasy is not totally devoid of reality. One painting, "Pier," begins with a postcard showing
the end of a fishing pier full of fisherman. Wegman created the front of the pier, taking elements
and people from the old postcard and recreating them within his conceptualized view.
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His work with Man Ray is well represented. Over the years, Man Ray gained a family. In 1986, a new
dog, Fay Ray (a play on the actress Fay Wray), joined the artist's lifelong project. Now with two new
generations, Wegman's model agency has grown to mammoth proportions.
Wegman was one of the first artists invited by Polaroid to use their life-sized 20x24 camera
introduced in 1977. He took advantage of the unique medium and has created striking images that are
a delight to study. The longer you look at them, the more minute detail becomes apparent. Most are
dark, full of intricate shadows, most showing only sections of the dogs.
"The first Polaroid I shot was all black," Wegman stated SAID. "I created a black
scene, placed Man Ray in it, and he disappeared in the blackness. I had always shot in black and
white. The next day I took some nail polish, painted his nail red, and created my first color
photograph. I loved it."
One set of Polaroids is an Untitled work featuring seven pieces only showing the dogs legs on a
white background. Each image has a multitude of strong lines, and only one shows a dogs face,
peering from the back of the print, as if trying to decide what Wegman is doing.
An adventurous artist, Wegman's series of the Weimareinars on the water in Maine presented an
interesting quandry using a camera that weighs 235 pounds. Undaunted, he enlisted the support of one
of his friends with a Subaru Brat pickup truck that just fit the bulky camera, and backed the truck
into the lake as far as they could. The works created are strange and captivating. Seeing a
Weimaraner sitting in the drivers seat of a sunken car is not something you expect to see.
©William Wegman Connector, 1994. Polaroid, 24 x 20 |
In addition to the Polaroids, Wegman creates videos and digital showcases featuring his dog stars.
His use of video dates back to the early 1970's and has captured the interest of many. In his first
solo exhibition in New York City in 1972, Laurie Anderson praised his video work and called him "a
diabolically brilliant one-man situation comic."
Flat screen monitors are placed in several locations throughout the exhibit, giving you a chance to
relax and watch his results. The grainy, faded early video-tape technology, adds to the fun of
Wegman and Man Ray playing with a ping pong ball as Wegman tosses it to him and Man Ray tries to
drop it into an empty can at his feet. Those of us watching it laughed continuosly and were thrilled
each time Man Ray scored with a drop into the can.
His video work led to television segments for Sesame Street and Saturday Night Live. On Sesame
Street in 1989, Fay Ray starred in "Old McFay Counts to 40". In February 1996, Fay's decendants
Battina, Crooky, Chundo, and Chip starred in new segments based on nursery rhymes. Wegman told
Entertainment Weekly, "They are only [being shot] maybe 30 seconds at a time. The rest of the time
they're sitting around, rather blase about life."
He created a series of 20-second digital shorts for Nokia phone users in 2004.
Presented on a small screen hidden in the corner of the exhibit, the fun involved in the six
presentations is infectious. One of his dogs, dressed as a human in brown suit and fedora, dribbles
a large red ball. It is slightly creepy, almost like a real-life Scooby Doo. Another, titled
"Alarm," uses still images of the dogs as the hands of a clock as ticking and alarms ring to their
movements. A cell phone screen is just another medium that Wegman is not scared to tackle.
Looking at his earliest work, it is a treat to see how Wegman progressed through the art world. His
early drawings and paintings are full of elements within his contemporary work. "It is a balancing
act," said Trevor Fairbrother, curator of the retrospective. "His art is so different."
Wegman came to photography relatively late in his career. He began photographing Man Ray with
the idea of publishing a book. "I've been showing paintings since the 70's," Wegman said. "Dogs are
built to be eyed in books, paintings have to be viewed."
William Wegman:Funney/Strange appears at the Brooklyn Museum from March 10 through May
28, 2006. It is an opportunity to learn more about a true artist of our generation.
Don't miss it.
For show hours and directions, visit The Brooklyn Museum website at www.brooklynmuseum.org |
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Access our Story Archive:
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The Changing Face of South Brooklyn: Montague Street Roulette
Manufactured Landscapes: The Photographs of Edward Burtynsky
The Sopranos invade Brooklyn
150 years of tradition ends in Cobble Hill |
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Produced by
SouthBrooklynInternet. All material ©2006. No reuse without permission.
All photographs ©Mark D Phillips - southbrooklyninternet.com |
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