New York City Art Gallery Really Goes to the Dogs

Who says dogs can't paint? Don't tell that to Tillamook "Tillie" Cheddar, a 10 year-old Jack Russell terrier (and PEOPLEPets.com member!) who's like the canine version of Georgia O'Keefe, except that Tillie's artistic style is more Jackson Pollock!

In the far west Chelsea section of Manhattan, a neighborhood studded with high-end contemporary art galleries -- the Gagosian, Barbara Gladstone, and Sikemma Jenkins, just to name a few -- one gallery dares to dedicate an entire exhibit just to dogs.

On October 8, the Denise Bibro Fine Art Gallery debuted its "Gone to the Dogs" exhibit featuring the canine-centric work of 22 human artists and three canine ones. Tillie has already had more than 20 solo exhibitions in the United States, and her highly abstract art was featured in a retrospective at the National Arts Club in New York, alongside the likes of celebrated (human) contemporary artist, Damian Loeb, says Olympia Lambert of the Denise Bibro Gallery. "Tillie has already sold a lot of her pieces," Lambert tells PEOPLEPets.com. "She's the most famous dog artist and the most collectible."

Why pooches? "We were really looking for something different and fun, and perhaps, lighthearted and celebratory," Almitra Stanley, Assistant Director and Curator at the gallery, tells PEOPLE Pets. "In Chelsea, there are many, many dogs and people are almost fanatical about them. We thought an exhibit would be a really nice way to bring people into the gallery who are lovers of dogs who may not come to the gallery otherwise. Also, we happened to know a number of artists who have dogs in the subject matter of their work -- either primarily or tangentially -- whose work we admired."

After a months-long process, the gallery's curators distilled a collection of more than 30 works from artists across the country to create the "Gone to the Dogs" exhibit. (Visit the Denise Bibro Fine Art Gallery website to view them all.) The pieces are wide ranging -- from fine photography to painting to mixed media and video.

"Some works are very funny and light, and some are very sublime and regal and beautiful, so there's a little bit of everything in the show," says Stanley. The artwork, which is for sale, ranges from under $500 to $8,000. A portion of the sales proceeds will be donated Animal Haven, a New York City non-profit animal rescue organization that finds homes for dogs and cats throughout the Tri-State area.

In a piece entitled "Best Friends," Boston-based artist Jane O'Hara paints tiny and highly-detailed renditions of four different dogs -- sweet, exuberant, content, wary -- each on its own high-gloss block of wood that imparts a gem-like quality. Indiana artist Michel Keck uses contemporary abstract painting combined with mixed media forms, including collage, to create a whimsical, yet thoughtful, canine portrait (shown above) "Cisco, Short Hair Chihuahua."

And how does self-taught artist Tillie make her conceptual art pieces? "It began when she was a puppy and started maniacally scratching at some contact paper," explains Lambert. " He [Tillie's owner] lifted up the contact paper and there was this beautiful design made by her toenails." Today, Tillie's assistants place pigment-coated sheets of vellum and lithograph paper on the ground, which the canine artist scratches and chews on. "When people watch her work, they often say she looks possessed, but does she know what she’s doing? I don’t exactly know," Tillie's owner Bowman Hastie told PEOPLEPets.com in August. "She doesn’t necessarily think, 'I’m an artist,' but I do think she considers it to be her job."

"Gone to the Dogs" will be on exhibit from October 8 to November 7, 2009 at the Denise Bibro Fine Art Gallery.

See more animal artists on PEOPLE Pets:
Alligator Art: Young Gators Tap Into Their Inner Picasso!
Chimp Artists Make a Colorful Splash in a Louisiana Art Exhibit

Helena Sung