Wegman World

This weekend at the Wadsworth Atheneum

William Wegman will be at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, CT for a reading, film screening and book signing. Details are here.

William Wegman, Reading Two Books, 1971

William Wegman at Carl Hammer Gallery in Chicago

William Wegman - Color Polaroids

Snap Wyatt & Fred Johnson - Vintage sideshow banners

plus more . . .

Exhibition Dates: June 3 - August 26, 2011 

In 1998, Carl Hammer Gallery loaned a large number of vintage sideshow banners to the renowned photographer, William Wegman.  Based on his creative interpretation, the artist photographed his favorite subjects against these banners in his inimitable style and titled the newly developed series of color Polaroid photographs Strange But True.  We are pleased to pair this remarkable body of work with select examples of vintage sideshow banners by master banner painters Fred Johnson and Snap Wyatt in offering up a summer exhibition by the same title.  The resulting effects achieved in this pairing  not only portray Wegman's brilliant sense of humor, but display an aesthetic kinship with the imagism of artists uniquely outside of the mainstream and pushes beyond the constraints - formal, social, and personal - that weigh on Western art and society.

Learn more about the show at HammerGallery.com

Introducing...

 

 

The newest member of the Wegman family: Flo!

 

Flo is eight weeks old, and was brought to the studio by breeder Brian Meany for a photo shoot. She turned out to be such a star, we couldn't bear to let her leave!

 

Because of their close friendship, Brian had named Flo's dam after Virginia Alexander. Flo's official pedigree is Axel's Peerless Ginny von Upland x Ch. Weatherrun's Six Pack Hemi.

Flo is having a wonderful time exploring her new home and getting to know the other dogs, Bobbin, Candy and Penny. She is a natural in front of the camera, as you can see from the photos above. She is a happy and confident girl who fits in perfectly with her new family.

We are all thrilled to have Flo join us here at the studio!

 

Bill and Flo

 

Check back next week for stories and pictures from the puppy shoot, featuring Flo and her sisters. 

Talk today at Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, CT

William Wegman will be giving a lecture on his work at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art today at 6pm. For information on the event, visit their website.

Will he surpass last year's speaker from Wesleyan?

William Wegman, Wesleyan, 2007

Show opening at Galerie Bugdahn und Kaimer, Dusseldorf

Bugdahn und Kaimer

from the gallery...

WILLIAM WEGMAN

»NEW PHOTOS«

Following our exhibitions of photo pieces, Polaroids and drawings by William Wegman (*1943) in the years 1995, 1997, 2004, 2007 and 2009, Galerie Bugdahn und Kaimer now presents a series of new coloured photographic works by this American, New York-based conceptual artist who is equally at home in the media of painting, drawing, video, film and photography.

The eighteen photographs shown in the exhibition are pigment prints. Sizes are from 17 x 22 inches / 43 x 56 cm to 36 x 44 inches / 91 x 112 cm and each is made in an edition of fifthteen. They were taken between 2005 and 2010 and showing the Weimaraner dogs in front, behind, on and between coloured plexiglass in various combinations.
William Wegman wrote the following about the ‘plexi work’: “Some of you may be curious as to how I create the plexiglass photo works with the dogs.  Interestingly, I do not use Photoshop. Everything you see in the photographs is what I see when I stage the photos. The dogs appear and reappear reflected in the transparent, translucent and mirrored surfaces. Lately I have enjoyed working with the dogs as dogs, unadorned, but modulating the space moody, tranquil ways. Soon I will tire of this and move onto something else ... with wigs, dresses and high heeled shoes. Hey, how about big pants and galoshes? I will need to find a narrative”.

Wegman’s name is linked inseparably with his photographs of Weimaraner dogs. He first became known for cryptically ironic photographic and video works (with and without dogs); but in the 1970s he attained world renown when he discovered the talents of his first Weimaraner dog, Man Ray, as a gifted model and an ideal interpreter of human idiosyncrasies.

In 1979, the Polaroid Corporation invited the artist to work with a newly developed camera, the now legendary Polaroid 24 x 20 inches (60 x 50 cm). Sceptical at first, Wegman familiarised himself with the enormous instrument, as he put it, and soon found himself enthusing over the unusual picture scale. The outcome was a remarkable oeuvre of singularly sharp, large-scale photographs, each a unique piece, as only this Polaroid camera – one of only three in existence worldwide – can produce.
In 1981, Man Ray died. Only in 1986 was he succeeded by Fay Ray, a born dog diva with no less flair. Fay opened the door to altogether new motifs. She could move gracefully, assume different positions and poses, arch her neck, turn her head round, cross her legs. She liked to impress him, Wegman says. Meanwhile the sixth generation of her offspring pose in front of the camera.

William Wegman is a master in his handling of the photographic medium, versed in generating from the interplay with his dogs one new, startling pictorial idea after the other, sublime in quality and originality. Many of his photographs have the air of paintings and recall subtle still life compositions and film sequences. Apart from which his Weimaraners remain unsurpassed in beauty, expressive power and elegance.

Photographs by Wegman can be seen in exhibitions in museums and international galleries the world over and have entered all the larger collections. Numerous retrospectives have been devoted to his work, touring the U.S. to stop at many venues including the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, and beyond, in Japan, Korea, China and Europe.
Besides film segments regularly featured since 1989 in Sesame Street,Wegman has also made films and videos for such programmes asSaturday Night Live and Nickelodeon. His film, The Hardly Boys in Hardly Gold, was shown to great acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival.
Today William Wegman and his Weimaraners are amongst the most popular figures on the international art and media scene.

We cordially invite you to the Private View of the exhibition and look forward to seeing you!

The Private View is on Friday, April 1, 2011, 6 pm – 10 pm. Exhibition to May 21, 2011.

The Gallery is open Tuesday – Friday 12 noon – 6 pm, Saturday 12 noon – 4 pm; and by appointment.

 

Twenty Years Ago Today

Twenty years ago today, the New York Times ran this profile.

"Construction Work", William Wegman, 1993