CYRUS MEJÍA
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
Raising awareness and shining a light on animal welfare issues
MILL DOGS' REVENGE
2010
When thinking about creating this series of paintings I remembered a saying by English poet George Herbert; “Living well is the best revenge”. Living well, after a life in a small wire cage, would be standing on plushy furniture!
VICKTORY DOGS
2008
Dog fighting is a sad reality, but it’s humans who put dogs in a ring to fight. It’s humans who use violence and torture to make these dogs the symbol of their own aggression. The Vicktory Dogs are poster children for this minority of dogs who themselves are victims.
SILENT NO LONGER
2002 - 2004
In this series of paintings I’m exploring a perspective seen every day, but un-noticed. Animals, viewed from above, looking up at us. Or up to us? By painting their faces larger than life and putting them up at our eye level I’m bringing a view that’s often overlooked, sharply into focus.
ARK
2005 - 2007
ARK is an installation commemorating the heroic work, done by Best Friends Animal Society and hundreds of volunteers, who answered the call, put their lives on hold, and went to save the animals lost in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. It is a collage on canvas stretched over a wooden boat shaped frame. The dimensions were taken from one of the “Jon” boats used to rescue animals during the flood.
575 PROJECT
2000 - 2005
Each year, about five million unwanted pets are put to death in U.S. shelters. That’s 13,800 every day, or 575 dogs and cats killed every hour! I conceived The 575 Project to call attention to this unacceptable reality. Each piece in The 575 Project is a memorial to the 575 unwanted pets who are euthanized each hour.
PITS AND PERCEPTION
2008
In designing this series, I wanted to create art that could help change public perception of pit bulls. The idea that came to me was to fill a room with larger-than-life paintings of pit bulls and invite viewers to look closely at these dogs. I remember reading that Georgia O’Keefee decided to paint her series of large flowers in order to force people to stop and look at the flowers. I figured that I would do the same thing for the pit bulls.