William Wegman

William Wegman has gained international recognition for his work in photography, painting, drawing and video. A postmodern, conceptual humorist, he has been termed a "master of whimsy, whose [works] have a charm and absurdist intelligence sometimes worthy of Beckett," by The New Yorker. Although Wegman is best well known for his witty portraits of his Weimeraner dogs, he is a highly original figure in the history of video art. His comedic, performance-based tapes of the 1970s are among the most enduring of video classics.

Wegman's early video works, many of which star his famous Weimeraner and alter ego, the late Man Ray, use understated humor, minimalist performance and the immediacy and intimacy of low-tech video to create brilliant moments of idiosyncratic narrative comedy. Recorded as single takes in real time, performed in front of a static camera, his tapes document absurdist anecdotes, droll monologues and surreal sight gags. With subversive wit, Wegman ingeniously employs minimal props, his own body and everyday situations as comedic material, delivering monologues in a wry deadpan.

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