It’s a Dog’s Life: Photographs by William Wegman from the Polaroid Collection
July 12 – August 10, 2008
The work of William Wegman has received international attention with his photographs, videos, paintings and drawings exhibited worldwide. Wegman has created film and video works for Saturday Night Live and Nickelodeon and his video segments for Sesame Street have appeared regularly since 1989.
Wegman received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Illinois Champagne-Urbana. He taught at the University of Wisconsin in Wasau, Waukesha and in Madison and in 1970 moved to Southern California to begin a one year teaching position at California State College, Long Beach. At these various universities, Wegman's interest in areas beyond painting began to develop, ultimately leading him to photography and to video. It was in Long Beach that he got his dog, Man Ray, with whom he began a long and fruitful collaboration. Man Ray, known in the art world and beyond for his endearing deadpan presence, became a central figure in Wegman's photographs and videotapes. In 1972, Wegman and Man Ray moved to New York and continued a collaboration that was to last for twelve years. A new dog, Fay Ray, came into Wegman's life in 1986 and soon thereafter another prolific collaboration began, marked by Wegman's extensive use of the Polaroid 20 x 24 camera.
It’s a Dog’s Life is a traveling exhibition organized by the DeLand Museum of Art featuring 29 of Wegman’s Polaroid images. The exhibition will be installed in the Frederick O. Watson Gallery.
