Dog Days

Overview

"Dogs are the best people," Aussie band The Fauves sang back in 1996 — and as well as proving a catchy lyric and song title, it's a statement of fact. In the art world, those creatively inclined clearly agree. They've been not only sharing their spaces with their four-legged pals for centuries, but taking inspiration from them. Why do you think Dogs Playing Poker exists?

Okay, so you won't find canines pretending that they're people at Dog Days at Jan Murphy Gallery, but you will find plenty of other examples of pooches in painted form. From February 25 to March 25, the Brunswick Street gallery is giving itself over to the pups that have spent time in artist studios, just doing general dog stuff — and getting immortalised in portrait form in the process.

Jason Benjamin, Lucy Culliton, Jason Fitzgerald, James Guppy, Claudia Greathead, Linde Ivimey, Rhys Lee, Adam Lester, William Mackinnon, Robert Malherbe, Guy Maestri, Leith Maguire, Ben Quilty, Monica Rohan, Martin Smith, Marina Strocchi, Deborah Williams and Heidi Yardley all show their love for humanity's best friends, and give art lovers a great gift. Everyone knows that the next best thing to spending time with a dog is looking at how cute they are, which this exhibition well and truly facilitiates.

Image: Lucy Cullliton, Five studio dogs (Hepzibah, Reddy, May Day, Super Zippy and Tessa) 2016.