Untitled (We Love Both of You)
1996 by George Rodrigue
Approximate size, 36 x 72 inches
Acrylic on canvas
Signed by the artist
Contact gallery for pricing. Availability subject to change without notice.
On an evening in 1996, George Rodrigue invited his friends Jayne and Rich Brinton out to dinner at Bernardus Winery in Carmel, California. What the Brintons thought would be a regular night out turned out to be a surprise wedding ceremony.
The Brintons were already married, but their ceremony had been a small, intimate affair. George coordinated a second ceremony, allowing more of their friends and family to celebrate their union. He got a veil for Jayne and a boutonniere for Rich and painted Untitled (We Love Both of You) for the occasion. The painting hung at the wedding’s altar, a bright, visual symbol of love.
Rodrigue’s Blue Dog is almost entirely concealed by a large, red heart. Across the painting, an inscription reads, “we love both of you, because your heart has touched all of us.” An indication of the depth of intimacy shared between Rodrigue and the Brintons.
Beyond this original context, the work is mysterious and playful. The viewer might wonder if Rodrigue painted the full Blue Dog only to cover it with a heart. Or did he only paint the parts of the Blue Dog we see, the bits of ears and feet?
The openings in the heart to make the Blue Dog’s eyes visible calls to mind the slipcase cover of Rodrigue’s wildly successful Blue Dog book, released two years before he painted this canvas. This gesture of making space for the Dog’s eyes speaks to the idea that the eyes are the soul of Blue Dog.