I like them, I admit it. So Sue me.
I just got really angry at CNN for the way they were sort of making fun of Dogs Playing Poker. "They aren't even painted on Velvet!" was Miles O'Brien's off-the-cuff remark as they were reporting that two of the 16 painting series of "Dogs Playing Poker" were sold for almost 600 thousand dollars.
Yes, I am willing to admit that its not fine art, nothing that would hang in the Tate or the MOMA, but dammit, I really do like them. They are a little hokey, but what do you expect from Advertising art. That being said, there is still a huge rolling-eye reaction from people whenever they come up... but why is the Dogs Playing Poker series any less a valid form of artistic expression than, say 10K dollar cans of artist's crap or a row of urinals with no plumbing or 21 million dollars worth of saffron gates in Central Park.
Instead of being denigrated, one of the most famous series of paintings in the world(or at least in America) should in fact be held up for what it is... iconic American Art that deserves at least some respect. I mean, I think that Dogs Playing Poker is probably as recognizably American as American Gothic and Whistler's Mother, so DPPshould be afforded the same kind of recognition.