Fun

11 Dog Inspired Art Projects That Will Move Your Very Soul

Written by: Greyceli Marin

April 28, 2015

When you’re making a living by being creative, it’s hard not to be inspired by dogs. Everything about the canine’s notoriety is subject to spotlight, even potty time. Dogs don’t worry about which side of their face photographs best, how much they’re getting paid by the hour, or whether they’ll be rejected from casting calls.

The following visual art projects pay brilliant recognition to the world’s most compliant supawmodels.

1. Dogs In Cars

Martin Usborne’s chilling but captivating series of photographs is an eerie reflection of a childhood experience we’ve all had: being left alone in the car. “When I started this project I knew it would be dark,” he says, “I was attempting to go back inside my car, to re-experience what I couldn’t bear as a child.”

dogs in cars

Usborne captured the many temporary feelings of solitude, helplessness, anxiety, and abandonment that innocent-minded children and dogs both share. Fortunately, no dogs were really abandoned in the making of these photos.

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2. Dogboarding 

The Daniels intended for their short film to evoke the following reactions in the following order: amusement, curiosity, utter panic, and relief. The directors, Daniel and Daniel, created this video of a most surreal relationship between skaters and their dogs.

“We conceived this video as a love letter to cool things, i.e. skateboarding and doggies”, they say. “Dogboarding” might just be the next best thing. But they make a point of saying, “In case we weren’t clear, it’s not real!”

3. Chien Chien

It’s hard to find anything on Nicolas Barrome Forgues in English but his work speaks every language. Nicolas draws lively and colorful characters that live in surreal worlds only possible in very weird dreams. His utopic creations are best experienced on their largest surfaces.

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Nicolas personifies all kinds of animals, creatures, and vegetables. His particular focus on dogs makes for some bizarre, post-card worthy, questionable but irrefutably fun stuff.

chien

4. SHAKE

When animal photographer Carli Davidson released her infamous collection “Shake,” it caught the whole world’s attention. One onlooker was especially curious, and contacted Carli right away, hoping to meet and collaborate with her.

The production company brought Carli’s hysterical images to life with the help of a high-speed digital camera. The slow motion footage they produced shows the most flattering states of delicious puppy slobber ever.

5. Runaway

If you combine patience and patience, you get Aubrey Longley-Cook. It only makes sense that his first fourteen frame animated gif of carefully stitched embroidery was of a dog. Aubrey’s cross-stitched work isn’t your typical “Home is where the Heart is” pattern hanging over the sink made (with love) by grandma.

aubrey

His pieces take months to complete and often depict contemporary themes. In this particular animation, he photographed the progress of each frame and combined the images into a wonderfully mesmerizing gif.

6. Small Dog BIG WORLD

Director Matthew Kalish created this ad for Pedigree about the small dog struggles of living in a seemingly huge world. The pup narrates his worries and walks us through the many complications he faces, like bones too big to enjoy, mirrors so tall he can barely catch a glimpse of himself in, and snug t-shirts that fit like cloaks.

The Pedigree ad promotes their Small Breed nutrition food, “made for small dogs,” offering hope to the little Border Terrier who is convinced the world that isn’t really built for him.

7. Dogsonality

Elke Vogelsang is an expert at capturing moments that make us say “OMG I wish I could take a picture with my eyes right now!!!”

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In her series Nice Nosing You! Dogsonality, and Goofy Goobers, Elke documents the split second that is often too sudden and leaves us begging our pooches to do it again. Her three rescues (and head models of her work) are almost too goofy to be real but they, like their mamma, are experts at being captured in their goofiest moments.

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8. Menswear Dog

Now that we know of dogs who blog, we can be introduced to dogs who are personal stylists. Bodhi the Shiba Inu is the artist who helped his parents create the successful Tumblr Menswear Dog.

menswear

When David Fung and Yena Kim finally listened to their son’s passion for fashion, they decided to help him document his personal style online, and people loved it. Menswear Dog features Bodhi in all his favorite outfits. Although David claims that at first the blog was a reflection of his own style, there is no denying that Bodhi is the true genius behind the fedoras and jerseys.

9. Bad Dog

Contemporary artist Richard Jackson is notorious for making shameless statements in the most blatant of ways. “Bad Dog” pays tribute to all those dogs that just couldn’t hold it for one more second, making owners grateful that their dogs aren’t 24 feet tall.

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The giant sculpture of the pup peeing yellow sprayed paint on a wall of the Orange County Museum of Art needed no more explanation.

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Museum spokeswoman Kirsten Schmidt said they received an email from Australia asking if Bad Dog was a “hoax or some type of joke,” while others reconciled, “We had a dog just like this!”

10. Charlie Chicken, Canine Artist

When canine street artist Charlie Chicken hired a crew of videographers and producers to make a documentary about his life, he only had one request: to be the sole narrator.

Charlie says his art is tough to explain, “I work with dung and urine, and there’s a lot of other dogs who do this kind of work…so I guess the question is: How do I do it differently?” This quietly hilarious and heartwarming documentary of a city pup who is trying to find his place in the world is sure to leave you inspired.

11. Chrome Dog

Muralist and conceptual artist Bikismo can also arguably be deemed an illusionist. The Puerto Rican street artist created a massive chrome dog on the side of a middle school in Miami entirely out of spray paint.

raw dog

The piece was part of the RAW Project, a project that proposed to launch a long-term fundraising campaign in support of an arts & music magnet program in the school. Bikismo’s giant pooch took four days to complete and its result is nothing short enthralling, reflecting its surroundings almost perfectly on his skin.

Featured image via olalablog

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Written by: Greyceli Marin

April 28, 2015

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