Happenings

Here is a recent interview with Matt Straub by Gregory Koutrouby for his "A Thousand Stories" web site. He stopped by Matt's studio in Brooklyn this October and Matt shared some thoughts on painting, life and the West. 

Jon was interviewed by William Harries Graham (son of guitarist/songwriter Jon Dee Graham) for the Austin Chronicle, and it's a mighty good read. Check it out here. 

Jo Clauwaert & his wife Katrien Devos came over from Belgium, Langford came down from Chicago, and a good time was had by all. Here are a few pics to prove it.

We're happy to be showing new art by our old friend Jon Langford and his old friend Belgian artist Jo Clauwaert. Langford's mixed media paintings on wood grapple with political and pop culture images and meanings. Clauwaert, who has spent a good deal of time at sea documenting the lives of his fishermen friends, has drawn on those experiences as inspiration for his metaphoric and fantastical prints. Please join us.

Opening reception for the artists

Friday, November 9

7 - 9 pm   

THE SHOW IS ONLINE HERE

 Seventeen years ago, on September 7, 1995, we opened our doors. We had a tiny collection of folk art we'd gathered from around the South. At the end of that first day we gathered in the gallery with a few good friends for a celebratory beer. A big storm blew in and all hell broke loose. The windows upstairs blew out and rainwater began running down our walls. A tree across the street was struck by lightning and exploded. One of its branches landed next to a friend's car, damming the water in the gutter and flooding his car. The giant pink bunny that sat atop our neighbor's sign blew off and rolled down the street. Always good to start off with a bang, right?

Remember cassette tapes? Remember laboriously assembling a collection of all of  your favorite songs onto a tape? Remember what it looked like when the tape broke - either because it wore out or because your player was dirty or just malfunctioning? Well, Camp Bosworth remembers, and he's immortalized it in carved wood and metal awesomeness.

 Hey, look! Tom Russell is off the road, at home and making art. He's sent us some new paintings and, for the first time, 4 woodcut prints. They're all in the gallery, of course, and you can check them out on our website here.

Deborah Baker
"What's Your Sign?"

September 1 - 30, 2012

Opening Reception

Saturday, September 1

7 - 9 PM

Chicago stitcher extraordinaire Deborah Baker draws pictures with cotton thread on linen.  Opening September 1, 2012, What's Your Sign? will feature her take on all 12 signs of the zodiac. 

"The Sweet Spot," is a weekly feature in the Arts section of the Friday New York Times online, wherein David Carr & A.O. Scott discuss matters of culture. In today's installment, Carr is wearing his Yard Dog tee shirt. He can also be seen wearing the shirt in the movie "Page One." The man has great taste, doesn't he? 

Deborah Baker
"What's Your Sign?"

Chicago stitcher extraordinaire Deborah Baker draws pictures with cotton thread on linen.  Opening September 1, 2012, What's Your Sign? will feature her take on all 12 signs of the zodiac. 

Coincidentally, we opened Yard Dog in early September, 1995, so that makes us a Leo, right? What's your sign?

Yard Dog Gallery proudly presents a new exhibition of paintings by Matt Straub. This is the first time his work has been shown in Texas.
He currently works in New York City and has a home in Buffalo, Wyoming. He has hitch-hiked across most of the western states and even hopped a few freight trains. His work has a deep nostalgia for the the harsh landscapes of the West.
The work is a mash-up of Pulp Fiction westerns and street art sensibilities. These paintings also reflect the period of transition between Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art. The paintings’ surprisingly varied and layered surfaces resonate with affinities to artists such as William De Kooning, Roy Lichtenstein, and Sigmar Polke. Featuring classic Western iconographic images of cowboys, cowgirls, guns and horses, his work depicts the violent narratives and sentimental mythologies of the American West—a landscape defined by melancholy sunsets, badlands, gunfights, outlaws and red-blooded heroes. References include Hollywood Westerns and the bold visual vocabulary of the comics and pulps of the 1940’s-50’s. BANG! BLAM!
These Pop-Westerns are like graffiti splattered box cars rolling across the plains. The paintings are a metaphor for a vanishing West.

Matt Straub
Trouble For Sale
June 23 - July 29, 2012

Opening Reception
Saturday, June 23
7 - 9 PM
Yard Dog Art Gallery
1510 S. Congress Ave
Austin, TX 78704[gallery order="DESC" columns="1"]

Saturday & Sunday, May 19 & 20, we're taking part in the 1st ever West Austin Studio Tour, W.E.S.T. It's a self-guided tour of artist studios, exhibition spaces & galleries. We'll be showing a whole bunch of Steve Keene paintings. Steve, who lives in Brooklyn, believes in mass producing hand painted works of art for the masses.Steve says, "I want buying my paintings to be like buying a cd: it’s cheap, it's art and it changes your life, but the object has no status. Musicians create something for the moment, something with no boundaries and that kind of expansiveness is what I want to come across in my work." The paintings will be for sale, in the gallery only and not here on our website, for $25 each. That's cheap, right? Come on out and buy a few. Selling for that price this Saturday & Sunday only!!