The Front: You Beautiful Bitch *

Instigated and arranged by Lee Deigaard.

New works by Lee Deigaard, Kathy High, Rachel Jones, Ariya Martin, Natalie McLaurin, Brooke Pickett, Ann Schwab & Brian McCormick, and Monica Zeringue.

Eight women artists who each live with at least one furred companion make work addressing these animal partnerships.

Rachel Jones’ cat Pablo visits her in dreams disguised as a man.

Natalie McLaurin’s dog Boosie needs her. He really needs her. Does he?

Monica Zeringue mixes human hair with coyote. Makes a tribute headdress to human-canid intimacy. Wildness with ritual, a headdress transforms the wearer, merges woman and dog.

Ann Schwab and Brian McCormick hold vigil over 15 year old Sparky. She sleeps, her chest rises and falls. She is old but so alive.

Kathy High’s cat brings her gifts. Tribute recognition. Grisly but devoted, generous.
Kathy makes her portrait; cipher cat’s gaze– projected through water and glass– is prismatic, oblique, mesmerizing.

Among the sheets, Lee Deigaard’s Xena is a sentinel, blithe Ruby a saturnine bitch.
At night, the dogs sing with the coyotes, a mystery song not meant for human ears. Gazing into the darkness, Ruby dog is a harlequin.

Ariya Martin’s cat Pico reigns. Once she was a scrappy kitten. Now she is a real bitch. The gaze says it. And arrangement of limbs. Gorgeous and supreme.

Brooke Pickett’s dog Sophie is short in stature, but she has her point of view. She watches and ponders from oblique angles.

*[Pleased with his new litter of puppies and praising their mother, a dog breeder who was also a priest wearing a “dog collar” unwittingly coined the phrase that is the show’s title.]

*You Beautiful Bitch explores common themes of animal companionship with Standing Heat (Rm 4, Nov 2010) which was co-curated by Lee Deigaard and Holly Hughes and featured Kathy High.