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Alison Friend Packs a Lot of Personality into Witty Dog Portraits

by Aurelia Butler 17 October 2025, 18:34

All images courtesy of Artisan, shared with permission

Alison Friend Packs a Lot of Personality into Witty Dog Portraits

October 17, 2025

ArtBooks

Grace Ebert

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Dogs, they’re just like us! Perpetually anxious pizza lovers.

The pups taking center stage in Alison Friend’s beloved paintings sport a range of personalities that feel all too familiar: several hungrily snack on pastries, sip cocktails, and even present their self-portraits on everyone’s favorite toy, the Etch A Sketch.

Friend is known for her witty pieces that portray our domestic pals in the style of the Old Masters, lending a sense of reverence to her furry subjects. The artist’s first monograph, Dog Only Knows, is available this month from Artisan and collects 125 of her canine works, a small fraction of which are shown here.

Pre-order your copy in the Colossal Shop, and find more from Friend on Instagram.

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Tiny Art Show Repurposes a Disused Stairwell into a 1:6-Scale Gallery
by Aurelia Butler 14 October 2025, 19:00
All images courtesy of Tiny Art Show, shared with permission
Tiny Art Show Repurposes a Disused Stairwell into a 1:6-Scale Gallery
October 14, 2025
ArtDesign
Kate Mothes
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In 2016, while artist McKay Lenker Bayer was still an undergraduate, her professor assigned the class the task of exhibiting their work. Unsure about presenting her work to the public, she downsized, quite literally, showing miniature paintings with teensy-tiny labels. And the idea for a minuscule exhibition space was born.
In 2018, Lenker Bayer established Tiny Art Show, a community art project that utilizes unique and unexpected spaces around Provo, Utah, to show original work by numerous artists. Until this year, the project was largely nomadic, but Tiny Art Show now has its own dedicated space.
Installed at 1:6 scale, the storefront-style gallery sits inside what was originally a stairwell, accessible from street level. Its blue facade is reminiscent of retail spaces in New York City or London, and inside, it’s what Leker Bayer describes as “a fully functional, commercial art gallery… that just happens to be tiny.” Original work is for sale, opening events draw gatherings of people who enjoy tiny snacks, and you can even grab a tiny newspaper from the vending machine near the door.
In addition to its miniature brick-and-mortar presentations, Tiny Art Show also facilitates a series of art projects like the Monthly Mini Mail Club, a subscription that dispatches an itty-bitty periodical called The Tiny Times, plus a booklet from that month’s gallery show. You can also purchase tiny art kits in the shop, along with prints and merchandise.
Explore more on the project’s website, and keep an eye on Instagram for updates about forthcoming shows.
Work by Brian Kershisnik
Work by Merrilee Liddiard
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In ‘The Party is Over,’ Murmure Confronts the Absurd Spectacle of the End Times
by Aurelia Butler 10 October 2025, 21:05
“Dark Spots” (2025), acrylic on canvas, 50 x 70 centimeters. All images courtesy of Galerie LJ, shared with permission
In ‘The Party is Over,’ Murmure Confronts the Absurd Spectacle of the End Times
October 10, 2025
Art
Grace Ebert
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In a world this absurd and disastrous, do we gravitate toward cynicism or levity? For the artist duo known as Murmure (previously), both are the only option.
The Caen, France-based pair presents a new body of paintings and charcoal drawings in their plainly titled exhibition, La fête est finie, or The party is over. Through a unique sense of wit and irony, they transform astronauts into runway models, the moon into a nuclear power plant, and a birthday cake into a raging forest fire.
“Moon Walk” (2025), carbon pencil on paper, 50 x 40 centimeters
Where there could be commonplace sights or moments of joy and frivolity, Murmure instead presents an unsettling composition. Every ill-advised choice—whether baking in front of a UV screen or watching cows graze on an ice floe—becomes a spectacular confrontation with our collective obsessions with consumerism, ecological wreckage, and self-serving gluttony.
La fête est finie is on view through November 22 at Galerie LJ in Paris. Find more from the artists on their website and Instagram.
“UV #2” (2025), carbon pencil on paper, 35 x 35 centimeters
“Nuclear Moon” (2025), carbon pencil on paper, 50 x 70 centimeters
“A Mushroom Story” (2025), acrylic on canvas, 200 x 150 centimeters
“Happy Birthday” (2025), carbon pencil on paper, 55 x 40 centimeters
“UV #1” (2025), carbon pencil on paper, 180 x 130 centimeters
“Cooler Age” (2025), acrylic on canvas, 50 x 70 centimeters
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‘Companions’ Celebrates Our Animal Friends and Colleagues
by Aurelia Butler 22 September 2025, 22:58
Misato Sano, “なるほど！ / Oh, I see!” (2025), camphor wood and oil paint
‘Companions’ Celebrates Our Animal Friends and Colleagues
September 22, 2025
ArtPartner
Joy Machine
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“Play between humans and pets, as well as simply spending time peaceably hanging out together, brings joy to all the participants. Surely that is one important meaning of companion species.” –Donna Haraway, ‘Companion Species Manifesto‘
Companions is a group exhibition celebrating our closest animal friends and colleagues. Featuring works across media by Lola Dupre, Debra Broz, Roberto Benavidez, Misato Sano, William Mophos, and Nicolas V. Sanchez, this show revels in the ways we share our lives with non-human species.
Debra Broz, “Horse Boxer” and “Boxer Horse” (2025), secondhand ceramic figurines and mixed media
Each artist translates their furry and feathered subjects in a distinctively human way: Dupre and Broz distort any realistic likeness in favor of surreal, exaggerated amalgamations, while Benavidez translates a small kitten into the celebratory form of a piñata. Sano similarly gouges small pieces of camphor wood to carve a range of expressive pups, which she then paints in oils.
Although their renderings take a more realistic approach, Sanchez and Mophos utilize substrates embedded within human life, the former gravitating toward the blank pages of a sketchbook and the latter scouring the streets of São Paulo for architectural remnants that become small jagged canvases.
In this way, these artists present companionship as a bridge between nature and culture. They see their companions as being both of their own making–in that any relationship is influenced and created by both parties– and as independent beings with big personalities all their own.
Companions opens on September 27, 2025. RSVP to our opening reception from 6 to 8 p.m. on Saturday.
Roberto Benavidez, “Medieval Kitten” (2025), paper, paperboard, wire, glue, crepe paper, fallen cat whiskers, 5.5 x 6 x 3 inches
Lola Dupre, “Geordi” (2025), paper collage, 12 x 16 inches
William Mophos, “Tom Tom” (2025), acrylic painting on wall fragments in an acrylic frame with cement board backing, 16.6 x 21 x 7.5 centimeters
Nicolas V. Sanchez, “Mariana with lambs” (2018), color ballpoint pen on paper, 5.5 x 10.5 inches
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‘Where’s Waldo?’ Meets Sarcastic, Dystopian Visions in Ben Tolman’s Elaborate Ink Drawings
by Aurelia Butler 28 August 2025, 17:22
“Apartments” (2025), ink on paper, 91.4 x 120.7 centimeters. All images courtesy of the artist and Galerie LJ, shared with permission
‘Where’s Waldo?’ Meets Sarcastic, Dystopian Visions in Ben Tolman’s Elaborate Ink Drawings
August 28, 2025
ArtIllustration
Kate Mothes
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Rendered in delicately cross-hatched ink, dozens of figures inhabit towering structures or assemble in crowds in the elaborate scenes of Pittsburgh-based artist Ben Tolman. Evoking the playfulness of Where’s Waldo? and the optical illusions of M.C. Escher, the artist conjures what Galerie LJ calls “a kind of human zoo.”
Opening next month, the gallery presents Tolman’s solo exhibition, Control, the title of which takes its cue from current events. Throughout the last 15 years, the artist has channeled an undercurrent of disconnection and imagined dystopian settings. His forthcoming show acknowledges the uncomfortable notion that some of these elements have become disconcertingly close to reality.
“Connected” (2025), ink and acrylic on paper, 109.9 x 82.5 centimeters
Tolman depicts faceless humans that move in sheeplike herds, “willingly following paths that clearly go against their own interests: technology, invisible barriers, belief systems, trends, politics,” the gallery says. The works in Control ask: how far are they (or we) willing to go? At what cost comes folly—or simply not paying attention?
In works like “Apartment” and “Routine,” anonymous figures mill about in individual, soulless boxes. Some appear to be working, relaxing, or socializing. Others just seem to stand there, staring into their phones. And in the darkly comical “Connected,” people queue to walk up a towering ramp structure, absorbed so much in their screens as they head up the incline that it’s too late before they realize they’ve stepped right off the precipice.
“With a generous dose of cynicism and voyeurism, Tolman portrays the eccentric truths and social failures of Western society,” the gallery says. “That’s what (he) is trying to understand—or to condemn. The future he sketches might seem bleak, were it not infused with a delicious sarcasm.”
Control runs from September 5 to October 4 in Paris. Find more on Tolman’s website and Instagram.
Detail of “Routine”
“Caution” (2025), ink and acrylic on paper, 72.4 x 117.5 centimeters
“Naked Bike Ride” (2025), ink on paper, 22.9 x 81.3 centimeters
“Routine” (2025), ink on paper, 68.6 x 55.9 centimeters
Detail of “Apartments”
“Migration” (2025), ink on paper, 61 x 91.4 centimeters
Detail of “Migration”
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In Surreal Portraits, Rafael Silveira Tends to the Garden of Consciousness
by Aurelia Butler 29 May 2025, 14:15
“Magnetic” (2025), oil on canvas, 23.62 × 23.62 inches. All images courtesy of the artist and DCG Contemporary, shared with permission
In Surreal Portraits, Rafael Silveira Tends to the Garden of Consciousness
May 29, 2025
Art
Kate Mothes
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With scenic vistas for faces, blossoms for eyes, or nothing but coral above the shoulders, Rafael Silveira’s surreal portraits summon aspects of human consciousness that span the spectrum of the wonderful and the weird. The Brazilian artist describes his work as “a profound dive into the human mind,” merging flowers, landscapes, and uncanny hybrid features into visages that channel humor with a slightly sinister undertone.
Silveira’s forthcoming solo exhibition, Agricultura Cósmica at DCG Contemporary, traverses “the fertile terrain of the subconscious,” the gallery says. “With a nod to pop surrealism and the uncanny, his work imagines the mind as a garden where thoughts are seeds and images (are) the wildflowers that sprout.”
“PLEEESE” (2025), oil on canvas, 23.62 × 23.62 inches
Silveira works predominantly in oil, using panel or canvas as a surface and occasionally surrounding his works with ornate, hand-carved wooden frames. The sculptural details of the frames, like an anatomical heart in “Eyeconic Couple” or an all-seeing eye topping “A Crocância do Tempo” — “the crunchiness of time” in Portuguese — read like talismans.
Many of Silveira’s compositions begin with a traditional head-and-shoulders portrait composition as a starting point, but instead of skin we see a distant horizon, like in “Magnetic,” or a figure’s head supplanted by a stalk of coral or a column of fire. Other pieces omit the human outline altogether in amusing arrangements of vivid flowers, which suggest wide eyes and addled expressions. While human forms shed their emotional autonomy as they converge with their surroundings, the flora in works like “OMG” and “PLEEESE” are a profusion of awe and desire.
Agricultura Cósmica opens in London on June 12 and continues through July 10. The show runs concurrently alongside an exhibition titled Plural by embroidery artist Flavia Itiberê. See more on the artist’s website and Instagram.
“Eyeconic Couple” (2025), oil on panel and hand-carved frame, 15.75 × 35.43 inches
“Inside Out” (2025), oil on canvas, 35.4 x 31.5 inches
“A Crocância do Tempo” (2025), oil on panel and hand-carved frame, 35.4 x 31.5 inches
“The Artifice of Eternity” (2025), oil on canvas, 23.62 × 31.5 inches
“OMG” (2025), oil on canvas, 23.62 × 23.62 inches
“Paixão Ardente” (2025), oil on panel and hand-carved frame, 35.4 x 31.5 inches
“The Roots of Reality” (2025), oil on canvas, 35.4 x 31.5 inches
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With Remarkable Precision, Lito Cuts Playful Compositions from Single Leaves
by Aurelia Butler 28 May 2025, 15:31
All images courtesy of Lito Leaf Art, shared with permission
With Remarkable Precision, Lito Cuts Playful Compositions from Single Leaves
May 28, 2025
Art
Kate Mothes
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From delicate, single leaves, Lito conjures meticulously detailed and playful compositions. The Japanese artist began applying paper-cutting techniques to leaves in 2020 as a way to navigate his ADHD and concentrate on something constructive and uplifting. His work quickly went viral on social media, and he has been creating tiny, often humorous narratives that focus on animals and cartoonish characters ever since.
If you’re in Fukushima, you can stop by a entire museum dedicated to Lito’s unique pieces. Explore more work on his website and Instagram.
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A Rippling Townhouse Facade by Alex Chinneck Takes a Seat in a London Square
by Aurelia Butler 22 May 2025, 19:06
Photos by Charles Emerson. All images courtesy of Alex Chinneck Studio, shared with permission
A Rippling Townhouse Facade by Alex Chinneck Takes a Seat in a London Square
May 22, 2025
ArtDesign
Kate Mothes
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It takes a real knack for design to make something as hefty and industrial as steel and bricks appear weightless or even playful. But British artist Alex Chinneck (previously) is no stranger to monumental projects that reimagine urban infrastructure and buildings into striking public installations.
As part of London’s Clerkenwell Design Week, Chinneck unveiled “A week at the knees,” a new sculpture in Charterhouse Square that takes its cue from an iconic predecessor. The artist installed the “From the Knees of my Nose to the Belly of my Toes” in 2013 on a dilapidated townhouse in Margate, appearing as though the entire front of the building had simply slid right off. On view through June in London, his new work boasts a frame made from 320 meters of repurposed steel and 7,000 bricks.
“A week at the knees” playfully anthropomorphizes a classic Georgian facade, with its lower two levels rippling over a pathway as if seated in the park with its knees up. London is famous for its green squares and gardens, and Chinneck’s work invites visitors to pass through a unique portal that calls upon the history of its surroundings, complete with downspout and lamps flanking the arched front door.
Chinneck fabricated the sculpture in collaboration with numerous British companies to source and create bespoke steel beams, curving windows, and bricks. At five meters tall and weighing 12 tons, the piece mimics a life-size building while sporting a thickness of only 15 centimeters. The effect lends itself to the experience of a hefty, architectonic structure with a graceful, lightweight personality.
Explore more on Chinneck’s website and Instagram.
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‘Level Up’ by GAFFA Transports Us to an Uncanny Parking Garage
by Aurelia Butler 12 May 2025, 15:30
Installation view of ‘Level Up.’ Photos by Ladina Bischof. All images courtesy of GAFFA and Kunsthalle Arbon, shared with permission
‘Level Up’ by GAFFA Transports Us to an Uncanny Parking Garage
May 12, 2025
Art
Kate Mothes
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When you think of an orange safety cone, you might imagine rows of the small reflective objects placed around temporarily parked vehicles or, say, next to potholes. But a stroll through GAFFA’s recent exhibition, Level Up at Kunsthalle Arbon, and the everyday sight took the form of an unmissably imposing, monumental structure.
GAFFA is a collective founded nine years ago by Wanja Harb, Linus Lutz, Dario Forlin, and Lucian Kunz. Through a signature blend of humor, irony, and an interdisciplinary approach involving zines, collages, photography, sculpture, and installation, the group challenges our perceptions of physical space, history, and society.
In their sometimes absurd installations, GAFFA often brings the outdoors in, like importing a beach chair and umbrella into a concrete room or constructing an enormous brown slug that slid across a gallery floor. In Level Up, traffic serves as the primary focus—both its symbols and the fine line between regulation and chaos.
GAFFA transformed the Swiss art gallery into a parking garage containing an extra-long stretch limo, an entry ticket, orange cone, and double-arrow directional sign. We don’t know to whom the car belongs or where they are.
Viewers are transported into a kind of Alice in Wonderland experience where the scale of everything feels befuddling and incongruent. The car, though life-size, is made of cardboard, and the yellow sign is an oil painting.
“Underground garages and parking garages are places we usually only notice in passing,” the gallery says in a statement. “They are purpose-built ‘non-places’ to which hardly anyone pays attention, yet they have their own aesthetics: the strict geometry of the parking spaces, the rhythmic movement of the barriers, the seemingly random arrangement of the holes on a parking ticket.”
Anyone who has driven into a large garage knows the anxieties of a gate not opening when it’s supposed to or the ticket machine not working. Within the large yet controlled space of the Kunsthalle Arbon, Level Up begged the question: how does one get out of here? Explore more on the collective’s website.
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humor

Latest story

Alison Friend Packs a Lot of Personality into Witty Dog Portraits

More stories

Tiny Art Show Repurposes a Disused Stairwell into a 1:6-Scale Gallery

In ‘The Party is Over,’ Murmure Confronts the Absurd Spectacle of the End Times

‘Companions’ Celebrates Our Animal Friends and Colleagues

‘Where’s Waldo?’ Meets Sarcastic, Dystopian Visions in Ben Tolman’s Elaborate Ink Drawings

In Surreal Portraits, Rafael Silveira Tends to the Garden of Consciousness

With Remarkable Precision, Lito Cuts Playful Compositions from Single Leaves

A Rippling Townhouse Facade by Alex Chinneck Takes a Seat in a London Square

‘Level Up’ by GAFFA Transports Us to an Uncanny Parking Garage

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