Pounding
A journey into the world of cast off and
abandoned family pets -- a tribute
recording their moments of human abandonment and the pounding of their
hearts.
In her new series of paintings titled Pounding, Dana Holst focuses her attention on the plight of unwanted, homeless animals during their stay at the Edmonton Humane Society. Inspired by the adoption of her own dog Oscar in 2001, Holst became haunted by the emotional distress experienced by the animals and the shades of human error responsible.
The raw stark gaze of Holst's dogs, cats and rabbits burn within their tenderly painted visages. With irony they recall historical paintings of beloved and treasured pets, but their sometimes awkward bodies or defiant stances resonate with a troubled past. A series of miniature oil paintings on Victorian piano key ivory further the notion of memorial keepsakes as their dainty scale and tombstone shape honor and play with tender sadness.
How people deal with pets that don't meet their expectations, become inconvenient or even dangerous. The aspects of human nature that are lazy, noncommittal and sometimes brutal command the focus, as Holst's displaced pets uphold the mirror on our throw-away society.
Charlie, 2006. Oil on panel, 6 x 6"