George Rodrigue Research Paper

Connor Mellema
Mrs. Escalante
Art A/B Period 6
12 April 2013
George Rodrigue “A simple Blue Dog is the obvious visual subject of every painting. However, the title combines with the paint on the canvas to convey a deeper meaning: one that in the end rarely alludes to that animal as we know as “dog,” but instead provides insight – whether humorous or nostalgic or sad – into human condition.” – George Rodrigue. The famous and southern man, George Rodrigue, was born on March 13, 1944, in New Iberia, Louisiana. Rodrigue has been drawing since a child, in the famous Cajun country. When Rodrigue was eight, he contracted polio and spent a year in bed. His parents were worried to death that they might lose their only child. Often times, to pass
Rodrigue turned his boring, and uneventful time, into an opportunity to explore the horizons in his artistic abilities. After realizing his love for drawing, he enrolled in the University of Southwestern Louisiana and Art Center College of Design before moving to the big city, New York, where he caught public attention for his print screens and paintings featuring the famous, Blue Dog, which was based upon a marriage of his beloved pet and the famous Loup Garou, which he was told lots of stories about when he was a child. Entertainment Weekly contributor, Rebecca Walsh concluded that the “Blue Dog” series evokes a “profundity of magic realism and the profane loss of a pet.” Rodrigue’s other artwork consist of dark and atmospheric depictions of the traditional bayou landscape, beauty, and activities. In some of his paintings, he refers to the bayous, for instance, the crab boils, the Cajun people, and public
When he went to the Soviet Union with President Ronald Reagan a decade ago, and they did not ask for a blue dog, but a painting of a Reagan on a white horse, and Gorbachev on the ground, holding his hand out in friendship. The soviet officials were unhappy with it. Most people can say whatever they want about the witty Blue dogs, Mr. Rodrigue’s paintings of what seems to be the same dog stamped on various landscapes, portraits and situations. Some people and critics say that it isn’t really art at all. What started off as a fantasy for his long dead companion has become a lasting impression, with 1,200 or more Blue Dog paintings and artwork since 1984. There are even paintings in the White House, Whoopi Goldberg’s house, Tom Brokaw’s house, and to the houses of admires. Even the vodka brand, Absolut, has ads with the Blue Dog. His artwork can range from a few thousand dollars to $250,000. Rodrigues was awarded a Gold Medal for the arts, and was honored by the Salon des Artistes of Paris. “I’m surprised by people’s reactions,” he said. It is not unusual, he said, to have people stare at the Blue Dog paintings and cry. ''The yellow eyes are really the soul of the dog,'' he said. ''He has this piercing stare. People say the dog keeps talking to them with the eyes, always saying something different.'' ''People who have seen a Blue Dog painting always remember it,'' he said. ''They are really about life, about mankind