May 19, 2008

Photo of memorial to Oprah's dogs (Courtesy: Leo Kesting Gallery)

NEW YORK CITY -- Manhattan’s Leo Kesting Gallery this week will unveil a sculpture memorializing Oprah Winfrey’s two dogs that died in the past year, claiming it sends a positive message to animal lovers.

Daniel Edwards, the sculptor of “Memories of Sophie and Gracie: A Puppies’ Memorial,” also sculpted the Paris Hilton Autopsy statue with her forlorn Chihuahua, Tinkerbell, and a nude Britney Spears giving birth on a bearskin rug.

Both works raised controversy – and attention for the gallery.

“Daniel’s a big fan of pets and definitely of animals,” gallery co-director John Leo told Pet Pulse. “By using Oprah as an image really is giving a voice to animal lovers all over the place.”

One of Winfrey’s dogs, Sophie, died in March, and the other one, Gracie, choked on a ball and died last year.

“The dogs themselves are depicted as being one and the same by having a co-joined tail. Actually, it’s a common tail,” Leo said. “And the fact that it’s on top of Oprah’s head is the fact that it’s weighing really heavily on her mind.

“Really the message is about care for your animals. The fact that animals are really just a part of everybody’s day to day life. And you know as a pet owner just how precious those animals are to you.”

The gallery will unveil another Edwards sculpture, “The Barbaro Memorial,” on Sept. 14 in Central Park. It is named for the 2006 Kentucky Derby winner that shattered his leg in the Preakness Stakes later that year and eventually died.

The statue also honors Smoothie, the carriage horse that was startled by a musician and ran into a tree in Central Park, causing its death last September. The Barbaro statue will be unveiled on the anniversary of Smoothie’s death.

The sculpture has a dual message, Leo says. Having the work in Central Park is aimed at banning carriage horses.

As for the Barbaro connection, “It’s all about the race horse industry, and the fact that they should be divulging the fatality rates within horse racing,” Leo said. “And actually, we can look at what happened just two weeks ago at the Kentucky Derby (the death of runner-up Eight Belles). “How these horses are run, run, run super fast and they’re prone to injury.

“And the fact is that hundreds of horses are put down every year in this really kind of a brutal industry. It’s an industry that’s bred with nothing more than money in mind. There is love for animals, of course, there but the love only extends as far as the pockets are deep in the owners’ pockets.”

The Leo Kesting Gallery is a meat packing district expansion of CKFA, a Brooklyn gallery that opened in 2003. The new location opened its doors in January, and Leo considers it extremely pet friendly. Many area residents carry small dogs with them in stores.

“Actually, it’s really funny because on a day to day basis we have animal and pet owners walking by and their dogs actually lead them into the gallery,” Leo said. “So we insist, we actually allow animals to come into the gallery at any time.

“If somebody’s walking by with their dog, we’re like, ‘Oh yeah, come on in. Bring the dog inside.’ We sit down, we play with the dog. We actually tend to have some dog biscuits on hand as well.”

Many of the gallery’s artists are quite traditional, Leo says, through he acknowledges that he welcomes the attention brought by works like Edwards’ Winfrey piece.

“Of course there’s a touch of shock value inherent in the works, just simply because he utilizes celebrity in such a way,” Leo said. “But the fact is, by using celebrity imagery, he’s using something to convey another message.”

The Hilton sculpture was released during high school prom season.

“We were trying to convey that if you’re drunk driving you’re going to get caught, and you’re going to get in trouble and you could end up dead,” Leo said.

So far Winfrey has not publicly reacted to the memorial to her pets, though Leo thinks her response would be positive, he says.

“I would be surprised if she doesn’t know that this is out there,” he said. “I’m certain she does. But we haven’t heard anything negative yet, and nothing positive either.

“So we’re just keeping our fingers crossed, and hoping that something does come around.”

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