Dogs in Art: "Stranger than Fiction"

The Yale University School of Art has selected works of photography on exhibit for their "Stranger than Fiction" 2010 Photography MFA Thesis Show, currently at the CPW25 Gallery. Curated by Helac & Wirth Art Advisory, the exhibit has a broad range of works by photographers David Bush, Lucas Foglia, Kate Greene, Tatiana Grigorenko, Curran Hatleberg, Tiffani Hooper, Rory Mulligan, Hrvoje Slovenc and Monika Sziladi.

One photograph by Curran Hatleberg tells a powerful story of how different people view dogs. Curran, who took the photograph at a service station in New Orleans last year, said he found it interesting to observe the difference between the man petting a dog and the man holding him on a chain leash in the background. It does seem that one clearly demonstrates love, while the other embodies mastership and obedience. The dog was a pet, not just a guard dog, from what Curran could tell in the five minutes he met him. It still seems to be a man's dog, best friend and protector, living a more rugged kind of existence than what we usually see in Manhattan.

Another photo by Monika Sziladi portrays the kind of dog ownership often found in Manhattan. In the background of "Ribs", you see a Chihuahua peering out of a carrier bag as his owner purchases a drink at a fashion show. He is clearly on guard, in his own way, watching to make sure his owner is protected, while he himself is equally protected from the confines of his carrier. Although approaching the situation with caution, he is safe, and probably better fed than the model in the foreground of the photo.

Neither of these photos is very unusual, but one piece in the exhibit was truly "Stranger than Fiction" - an image of a dead bear in woods, so decayed that it looked more like a painting of a monster, that the photographer happened upon while on a shoot. Strange or not, every photo in the collection tells a vivid story, each one worth viewing. The exhibit is open to the public through June 13.