Dominic Wilcox designs art exhibition for dogs (plus exclusive artist sketches)

Artist and inventor Dominic Wilcox has designed a contemporary art exhibition for dogs, featuring interactive installations created specifically for the attributes of our furry friends. Each piece is based on an activity dogs enjoy, such as smelling shoes or chasing balls. Dominic has also curated a series of paintings by other artists that employ colours within the animal’s visual spectrum, and are hung at dogs’ eye level.

Dominic’s installations include Cruising Canines, an open car window simulator with a giant fan that wafts scents of old shoes and raw meat through the air. Dogs can stick their heads through the 2D car cut-out to recreate the exhilarating experience of riding shotgun.

Dinnertime Dreams is a 10ft dog bowl filled with over 1,000 balls made to look like dog food, which the dogs can frolic in to their heart’s content.

Watery Wonder features a series of dancing water jets that jump from one dog bowl to another for dogs to chase.

Catch by Nick White simulates a frisbee bouncing around a screen.

Paintings by artists including Claire Mallison, Joanne Hummel-Newell, Robert Nicol and Michelle Thompson use the grey-yellow-blue colour spectrum dogs can see, and depict subjects such as letters falling through a letterbox and chicken drumsticks in a park.

“Contemporary art has long been an important source of inspiration and fascination for humans, but never before has it been created with a view to drawing the same kind of emotions out of animals instead,” says Dominic. “While it’s certainly one of the more interesting challenges I’ve faced in my career, it feels great to have created such a truly unique collection of interactive artworks for a completely new audience.”

The artists received consultancy from veterinary experts on the types of mental and physical stimuli most beneficial to a dog’s health and wellbeing. The show was commissioned by More Than Pet Insurance as part of its campaign to encourage people to play more with their pets.

The Play More Dog Art exhibition is open 19 — 20 August at 47/49 Tanner Street, London.