Is your dog a budding artist, held back only by the closed-minded and arbitrary limitations of the establishment that insists great art can be made only by those with opposable thumbs? Or at least hominids? Opportunity might be right around the corner — or, on the corner, more specifically. An art gallery in London is presenting an exhibit this week called “Drawings by Dogs,” which allows our favorite quadrupeds to show off their creativity to the elite.
The exhibit, held at the Gallery on the Corner (yes, really), benefits the Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, and runs from Oct. 11 to 20. The exhibit’s web page insists that “there’s a Picasso, Poussin, or Pollock in every pooch,” and organizers are ready to prove it to the London art community while raising a few bucks for a good cause.
The curators of Drawings by Dogs, Tom Webber and Tom Lakeman, have at least found a solution to one problem that plagues great artists: These dogs won’t starve for their art. The drawings are made by attaching a pastel to the bottom of a metal food bowl and placing it on a large sheet of white paper. As each dog pushes the bowl around, trying to get every last bit of kibble, the dog makes art. The drawings tend to be somewhat minimalistic: a single line of crayon meandering around a large white piece of paper.
“Big dogs do more wild drawings,” Webber said. “Some of the smaller dogs are very dainty and delicate. There was one dog that drew something that looked like a cat.”
Most of the drawings are done by current or former residents of the Battersea Dogs & Cats Home. However, if you happen to be around London, and you know that your pet has been dying to go toe-to-toe with Banksy, for £20 you can bring them in for a meal and go away with a framed picture.
