Gallery gets petty with show of favourite mogs and dogs

Eileen Mayo's work, part of the 'Raining Cats and Dogs' exhibition at the Auckland Art gallery.

If you like animals, especially cats and dogs, you'll be tickled by the Auckland Art Gallery's Raining Cats & Dogs show. The exhibition, in a small, circular room at the centre of the Kitchener St building, is a lighthearted summer treat, with works from the gallery's collection we rarely have a chance to see.

The groups of paintings, photos, engravings and etchings range down the walls to knee-height so children can peer at them, the lowest the gallery has hung its works.

At the centre of the room, animal-shaped jigsaws create almost as much excitement as the paintings - not just among kids. Adults have also pounced upon the animal-themed picture books displayed along one wall; the show, say some gallery observers, has definitely brought out the child within.

Climbing up one wall is a frieze painted by book illustrator Sandra Cammell, displaying the adventures of the show's hosts, Dogo Rivera and Picatso.

Picasso himself features in the exhibition, in a Dick Ham photo taken of the artist in his freezing Parisian studio in January 1945, still six months of German occupation ahead.

Picasso wears many layers of clothing; his dog is the clever one, sprawled out next to the stove.

The show ranges through the ages, starting early with the 1646 etching of lions by Wenceslaus Hollar and Peter Rubens, and The Owl-Glass (The Beggars), a 1520 etching by Lucas van Leyden.

Androcles and the Lion (1908), by Briton Riviere, was present at the SPCA Blessing of the Animals a couple of years ago, and so is truly blessed, says curator Mary Kissler.

Entering more modern times, New Zealand's Eileen Mayo, whose wonderful cat portraits are becoming hot items at auctions, has Cats in Trees hanging here, sinuous felines only a cat lover could truly capture.

American William Wegman, who has made a career out of photographing his weimaraner, has the dog's elegance framed in a carefully composed photo, Armed Chair.

Peter Peryer's Billy peers foxily at the camera, a perfect moment, as is Max Oettli's Leonard and Rover, Suva, a classic shot of a dog happy to be plain silly.

There are many other mogs and dogs in the show and Kissler loves them all.

"I can't pick a favourite, there are things I like about all the works.

"Every single one of these works is different but they are all cats or dogs and they create different moods.

"I'm interested that so many artists, contemporary and historic, would want to depict animals."

Exhibition

What: Raining Cats & Dogs

Where and when: Auckland Art Gallery, to Feb 20

For the family

Virtual Pet - design and make your own 3D pet, each day till Friday, 10am-2pm

Actor Michael Hurst reads his favourite stories about cats & dogs, Sun Feb 6, 2pm

Illustrator's insight - Gino Edwards demonstrates how he creates characters for a children's book, Sun Feb 20, 3pm