Man & Dog III

Renee So (1974 - )

Glazed ceramic mounted on board, oil paint, aluminium frame

2019

Share this:

© Renee So

License this image

Start Zooming
  • About the work
    Location
    Country: UK
    City: London
    Place: Government Art Collection
    Renee So started making tiles in 2016 as a way to work pictorially with clay, and as an extension of her textile works. These two aspects of her work share the same subject matter and are built up structurally in a similar way: an image formed from individual stitches or tiles based on a grid.

    So’s tiled works reference the Ishtar Gates of Babylon, Assyrian stone friezes (which were originally coloured) and the tiled murals she encounters in public spaces such as at Tube stations, and outside pubs and primary schools.

    With reference to this work, the artist explains: “The boot and beard are symbols of male power in my work. After making Sunset (2016, which is a pair of legs repeated), I realised that an upside down boot was suggestive of a dog's head, and a way of transforming the boot motif - moving it into new territory and away from the bearded man which I have used extensively. The next logical step was to make Man & Dog III in tiles, where the man & dog both have a boot for a head, creating a new species so they are no longer man and dog. I have since learned that there is an Egyptian God of the Afterlife called Anubis, who is human with a dog’s head.”

  • About the artist
    Born in Hong Kong, raised in Australia and now living and working in London, Renee So makes ceramic sculptures and machine-knitted textiles. In 2019, her solo exhibition ‘Bellarmines and Bootlegs’ opened at the Henry Moore Institute, Leeds. A second solo exhibition is set to open at the De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill On Sea, in September, the culmination of a residency for which So was selected from an international open call. Recent group exhibitions include London Open 2018, Whitechapel Gallery, London (2018); One Day, Something Happens: Paintings of People: A Selection by Jennifer Higgie from the Arts Council Collection, Leeds Art Gallery, Leeds (2016); A Conspiracy of Detail, Mackintosh Museum, Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow (2013); and Dawn Chorus, Leeds Art Gallery, Leeds (2012).
  • Explore
    Places
    Subjects
    dog, man, boots, collar
    Materials & Techniques
    board, aluminium, oil paint, ceramic, sculpture (as object name)
  • Details
    Artist
    Renee So (1974 - )
    Title
    Man & Dog III
    Date
    2019
    Medium
    Glazed ceramic mounted on board, oil paint, aluminium frame
    Dimensions
    height: 111 cm; width: 84 cm; depth: 2.5 cm
    Acquisition
    Purchased from Kate MacGarry, London UK, July 2019
    Provenance
    Kate MacGarry, London UK; from whom purchased by UK Government Art Collection, July 2019
    GAC number
    18818