The Bark, Fall 2003
Breeder’s Project: An artist finds her medium in fur
Leigh Johnson
What do you get when you give a shopping bag of Husky fur to an artist with a knack for bringing out the "creepy parallels" between art and everyday life? San Francisco artist Lauren Davies responded to just such a gift by making a miniature Husky model from the fur. "I used the fur … in a self-referencing kind of way, so the little model reflects back on its origin," Davies says. Making art about dogs makes sense to Davies, who has two West Highland Terriers of her own: "I've been interested in dogs since I was very young. I worked in a kennel and my family had a dog. And I began this project after I lost one of my own dogs – at first I was sort of making these models as a memorial."
In the process of crafting the pooch models, Davies found herself referring to the American Kennel Club’s breed standard book in order to produce "the right set of ears, the perfect tail and the correctly shaped head." But while trying to meet the AKC breed standards with her miniature canine sculptures, Davies realized that there was a "parallel universe of people playing Frankenstein in he purebred dog … world. For them, breeding dogs is a lot like making art, in a creepy way – they’re creating something that’s meant to exist only for visual effect. The difference is that if the experiment doesn’t work out for me in the studio, I throw it away. But they treat the dog the same way – they don’t take responsibility for a dog as a living breathing thing." This objectification Davies notes, has real consequences: "The competitive cult of form over function with show dogs … has created German Shepherds nearly crippled by exaggerated sloping hindquarters; sturdy looking Bulldogs that can’t breathe … and teacup Poodles so delicate they can’t live outside of a man-made environment."
This insight led Davies to title her sculpture project "The Breeder." After the initial Husky model came a whole series of other breeds, all made from the fur of the purebred dogs they represent. Davies’ current exhibit, part the ‘Animal Magnetism” show at San Francisco’s Exploratorium, includes models of a Poodle, a Westie, a Cocker Spaniel, a Chow, a Maltese and an Australian Shepherd. The models, ranging from 6 to 14 inches in height and proportionally sized, are made by covering a heavy gauge wire armature with batting, glue and, of course, copious amounts of dog hair, sent to Davies by a Washington breeder and a local groomer.
What’s next for Davies? "I want to make larger models of mixed breed dogs – funny, weird-looking ones. I think they’ll be bigger, to contrast with the tiny, hyper-precious purebreds. Just imagine what it would look like if you crossed a Wheaton terrier with a Maltese!"