Jenkins Johnson Gallery (San Francisco/ New York) showed work by Lavar Munroe at Expo Chicago 2017.
The pieces here, both sculpture and paintings, are part of a series called Gun Dogs. The term refers to attack dogs trained to attack people on sight or command. Surely the dogs are portrayed as fearsome.
Recently I read a book by an African academic who told that one of his biggest adjustments in the USA was how people felt about dogs. In his homeland there were no lapdogs. Add to this the historical use of dogs to hunt runaway slaves and to attack civil rights protesters. The artist is asking a question; when does this become a hunt and what extent are the animals, and their masters, specifically aimed at a given demographic.
Munroe was born in the Bahamas in 1982. He has a BFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design (a school that produces so many wonderful artists) and an MFA from Washington University (St. Louis).
The pieces here, both sculpture and paintings, are part of a series called Gun Dogs. The term refers to attack dogs trained to attack people on sight or command. Surely the dogs are portrayed as fearsome.
Recently I read a book by an African academic who told that one of his biggest adjustments in the USA was how people felt about dogs. In his homeland there were no lapdogs. Add to this the historical use of dogs to hunt runaway slaves and to attack civil rights protesters. The artist is asking a question; when does this become a hunt and what extent are the animals, and their masters, specifically aimed at a given demographic.
Munroe was born in the Bahamas in 1982. He has a BFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design (a school that produces so many wonderful artists) and an MFA from Washington University (St. Louis).
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