Mixed Media Assemblage | 14 x 19 x 4 inches | Custom Framed
 
Civilized Dogs is a surrealist meditation on anthropomorphism — how we humanize, and often misread, our pets.
 
In this museum vignette, a Dalmatian mother escorts her puppies through a dog-themed gallery. Portraits by European masters — Auguste Courbet’s The Greyhounds of the Comte de Choiseul and T. Langlois’s The Fisherman’s Terriers — are digitally tuned to harmonize with the soft palette of amber, lilac, and gold. A necklace segment of amber, agate, freshwater pearls, and Murano glass trims the mustard yellow valence. Look closely to note the bulldog buttons — discreet sculptural cameos — capping the columns.
 
As in A Domesticated Cat, the piece wryly probes our impulse to cast animals into human roles, inviting viewers drawn to contemporary narrative and animal-themed art to reconsider their assumptions about animal behavior.
 
Materials: Realistic dalmatian miniatures, buttons, wood, metal, velvet, Murano glass, amber, agate, freshwater pearls, paper
 
Framing: Custom shadow box with museum glass in a deep gold wooden frame, created in collaboration with Chevy Chase Art Gallery, Washington, DC.