Best of Show

Few artists who paint dogs have found the vision to deviate from the time-honored themes of poker games and doe-eyed poodles on velvet. Armed with acrylics, canvas, and lots of costume jewelry, newcomer Amy Brazil has finally broken the mold. “Best of Show,” a recent hanging at Hopkins Center for the Arts, has people stopping in their tracks. There’s a lot to get their heads around. “La Chasse Auz Papillion” is a profile of a Great Dane giving thoughtful consideration to a crystal-encrusted butterfly mounted on the canvas over a lime-colored background. Others in the show feature more of these unusual jewelry applications. “Hairy Winston” depicts a Boston Terrier on a harlequin-patterned satin background bordered with rhinestones. “Lady Godiva,” a chocolate colored retriever, poses against a background of gold foil embossed to resemble a chocolate wrapper. “Lady Abigail,” an Afghan Hound draped in faux pearls, is painted on black velvet. An initial stroll past these 17 pieces, while enchanting, was also provoking. Why would someone so talented paint nothing but dogs? Why the jewelry? Why aren’t they ironic? Why do I like them so much? I wanted answers, so I called Amy Brazil.

It turns out that Brazil just really, really likes dogs. She started about two years ago with portraits of her own dogs, Jade and Jackson, a Lhasa apso and springer spaniel. She liked the paintings so much that she went to a dog show in search of more subjects. What happened then can only be described as an epiphany. “I went down to the convention center equipped with a sketch pad and a couple of cameras,” said Brazil. “I was just blown away. I was so overwhelmed that day. After that, everything just started clicking.” Since then, she’s wanted to do nothing but paint, and paint nothing but dogs. “I’m doing what makes me happy, and I’m having a great time doing it. If I’m not up by 5:30 or 6 painting, it’s a bad day.”

Yet somehow the resulting work is not precious or sentimental dreck. Brazil said she tries to reveal human equivalents in the variety of character found in canine breeds. Reminded of Sid Vicious by the legendarily ugly Chinese Crested breed, Brazil created a double portrait (“Sid and Nancy”) on a Sex Pistols-themed background. An “obnoxious” (Brazil’s word) Bob Mackey design favored by Cher in the 70s will supply the background for a work in progress of a doberman depicted as Cher. She will be posed with an Italian greyhound. Naturally, Brazil will call him Sonny. There seems to be no limit to the potential combinations Brazil might conceive and paint in the future. She has nonetheless paid the devil his due. With “Lady Abigail” on black velvet, she gave her nod to the kernel of kitsch that will forever be at the heart of this form. Is she also tempted to update the poker-playing bulldogs? “No,” she said. “It’s already been done, and it was done beautifully.”