William Wegman and his Sesame Street dogs

     William Wegman has created many wonderful and memorable pieces of art during his career. It is said the turning point of Wegman's popularity in the art world was when he started using his dogs as subjects in his photographs. Now his countless photos and videos are easily recognizable and well received by many. I am one such person as I remember Wegman's dogs on Sesame Street since they were some of my favorite clips in the show. One thing to consider, though, is what made him so successful and why people enjoy his work so much.

    There are two main elements to William Wegman's work: his subjects and Wegman himself. It's likely that this artist's success comes from one of these aspects of his art. Personally, I believe it is a combination of the artist and his subjects that makes his work so enjoyable to see. The dogs and Wegman's ideas and personality combine to create a unique way of viewing the world. The mixture of humor, simplicity, animal and human elements, props, medium, and interaction with the world creates one of the most unique collections of art I have ever seen.

Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

Subway Country Dog

    A big part of William Wegman's art is his combination of humor and simplicity. Honestly, people enjoy laughing. We like seeing things that lift our spirits and wipe our worries away. So it makes sense that something that brings a smile to our lips would be so liked. What's interesting, though, is how simple Wegman's work is. A dog, props, and sometimes a hidden human. That's it. There's no explanation needed, no huge setup or many hidden parts of the image. You just see the art and feel the humor and other emotions behind it. 

Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

Subway Yellow Dog

    Humor and simplicity work hand in hand in a way people can really connect to. Everyday we have little funny moments. Moments that we won't always remember, but that will have an impact and bring a little light to our lives. It's the inside jokes that never fail to bring a smile to our faces and the times where we can't help but laugh at our own goofiness and dumb mistakes. It is these moments that we can easily see within Wegman's work. It's what we see in his creativity and the connection we feel with his dogs. They, too, are experiencing life's everyday humorous moments and this makes William Wegman's art all the more likeable.

Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

Subway Red Dog

    Another aspect of William Wegman's art that we easily relate to is the animal and human elements we see within it. We have already established the connection between dogs and humans through the many articles we've studied this year in this course. Simply put, dogs are seen as the best of animals and honorary humans. Wegman's art shows man's 'best friend' in a fun, loveable way. It highlights the human characteristics we see in our constant companions and makes them seem just a little more like they're part of our family. However, Wegman also teases us a bit about these characteristics we often seek in dogs by overemphasizing them. For example, many people will dress up or 'personalize' their dogs to match their family outfits during events like family photos. In this way many like to show how their pets are truly part of their family unit. Wegman takes this a step further than colorful collars or simple bows though and quite literally dresses his dogs in human clothing. This truly plays with the way we views dogs and subconsciously makes us consider what our perspective of the human-dog relationship really is.

Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

Subway Dogs

    The props William Wegman uses as well as the medium of his art add an interesting idea to his popularity. Often times, people stick with a certain way of expressing their views. Props are usually used as support and often times only immobile images are considered art. Wegman challenged these ideas and it is these seemingly new and unique techniques that draw us to this artist. Instead of finding props to go with a subject, a prop becomes a part of the subject itself. In this way we don't see the art piece as a collection of small elements but as a single thing of beauty. Again, this ties in to the simplicity of Wegman's work. Along with props, the very medium William Wegman uses also changes the way we view his art. Previous to Wegman's growth in popularity the vast majority of art was immobile. Paintings, drawings, photographs, that was it. Now, however, there has been a rise in other forms of art- especially videos. As someone who has studied and worked with videos for multiple years, I can testify of the growth I've seen in this medium's success. Now people are finding that they can express themselves in new and wonderful ways through videos. Wegman brought change to the art world with his use of props and mediums, change that is welcoming people to change their perspectives and try something new.

Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

Subway Dogs

    Finally, part of why William Wegman is both successful and well loved is the interaction with the world we see in his art. So often we view art as something that exists in some mythical world. Yes, we see a beautiful painting of a small farm home amongst golden fields of grain, but how often do we actually think of these pieces as part of our world? Wegman's pieces still provide us with that bit of fantasy we seem to so easily create, after all it's not very realistic to see a dog reading a book while sitting on a park bench. At the same time though this artist connects his images and videos to our own lives. It is true that he poses the dogs and creates the image himself, but at the same time Wegman's art is happening in the real world. These humorous, simple, dog-human, prop and medium based masterpieces are occurring in this world. Right here. Right now. And in the end I think that's truly what has made William Wegman so successful and accepted. It's him and his dogs doing what they do.