David Remfry has produced beautiful portraits of dogs and their often
well-known owners, creating evocative pencil-and-watercolour portraits
to reveal the companions' mutual understanding, empathy and pathos. The
sitters include a number of residents of the Chelsea Hotel as well as
other partnerships he has witnessed in New York and London. These
include: Alan Cumming and his rescue dog Honey; Susan Sarandon and her
diva-like Pomeranians, Penny and Rigby; Agnes Gund and her Wheaten
Terriers, Tina, Giotto and Bronzino; Laura Kaplan and her dachshund
Oscar; Ethan Hawke and Nina. The list is intriguing, the relationships
heartfelt. Remfry's portraits are accompanied by preliminary sketches
and the artist's reminiscences about the sittings, as well as brief
accounts by his sitters of how dog and owner came to find one another.
David Remfry, best known for his life-size watercolors of urban scenes
and nightclubs. He had his first solo show in London in 1973; more than
50 international solo exhibitions have followed at such major venues as
the Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio; the Victoria and
Albert Museum, London; and PS1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island
City, New York.