 |
Benji and Garfield have nothing on William Wegman’s Weimaraners. The photographer’s droopy-eared models have been the obedient centerpieces of much of his work for four decades, appearing everywhere from MoMA to Sesame Street. There’s no serious figure whose work is a more kid-friendly introduction to contemporary art, and this weekend, Andrea Beeman, Wegman’s longtime assistant, will guide families through “William Wegman: Funney/Strange,” the Brooklyn Museum’s 40-year Wegman retrospective. Right out of the elevator, visitors will see a new photograph, The Upside of Down, in which one of the taupe canines appears to be floating in space. In The Hardly Boys in Hardly Gold, a Wegman film that was a 1995 Sundance favorite, the dogs even go sleuthing. Beeman will also draw kids to a series, commissioned by Nokia, that includes the dogs seeming to dance, bounce a ball, and respond to an alarm. Then she explains that for those films, Wegman didn’t shoot conventionally—he worked like an animator, photographing each frame as a still, then splicing them together like a flip book. “The dogs are just having a nice time sitting around,” she laughs. “It’s the humans who are doing the hard part.”
Email
Print
Albert Camus and Literary Obsession 
True Blood's Guilty, Addictive Appeal
Brüno Takes Aim at Homophobia 
Summer Food, Drinks, and Outdoor Events
Views, Biking, Art, and More at Governors Island
Marea's Lofty Ambitions and Luxurious Seafood 
Three Make-Ahead Summer Party Menus 
Why Does Ruth Madoff Inspire Such Hate?
Pedro Espada's Constituency of One
NYC Prep Turns New York Into a Joke
Our Annual Guide to Summer in the City
