Samuel Price is no ordinary pet artist, creating his unique, contemporary dog portraits without using a drop of paint.
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Instead, the self-taught Price recycles magazines to fashion his works. He began his unique technique out of necessity, rather than artist’s whim. As a young man he could not afford paint and so took to cutting up and gluing together pieces from old magazines and newspapers to create pictures of animals, people, and scenery.
Assembled from hundreds of small magazine squares, each artwork takes three to six months to complete, varying the size and complexity of the subject matter.
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Price began creating photomontages of pets after a friend of his was unhappy with how a portrait of her dog Floyd by another artist was turning out. Price offered to give immortalising Floyd a go and he was so pleased with the result, it is still one of his favourite works to date. Since then he was captured many a doggy face using his unique method.
Says the artist, “I feel incredibly blessed to have the opportunity to share my passion for dog art with the world. I never imagined that my career would have taken me in the direction that it has, but I have learned so much by studying animals and have aligned my career in a very intuitive manner to combine my personal interests and pursue my dreams.”
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Price works from photographs, sketching the basic shape of the pet on canvas, and starts gluing. He usually asks the client to take the photos themselves, as they know their pet best, and how to best capture their personality. Price tries hard to capture the affection owner’s have for their dogs in his work.
It is important to Price his artworks stand the test of time. He attaches the magazine clippings from everyday publications using polymer emulsion, a kind of acrylic paint, which he paints the back and front of each piece. The polymer embalms the magazine to prevent the natural process of oxidation which would cause the paper to corrode over time. When the artwork is complete, he glazes it with UV protective gloss that deflects sunlight, preventing any harmful fading that might result from exposure over time.
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Price lives in San Francisco with his wife, his dog Buster, and two cats.