Almost everyone recognizes Dogs Playing Poker, by Cassius Marcellus Coolidge; the painting of seven dogs sitting around a table, smoking cigars, drinking, cheating. But in reality, he painted eighteen of them. The series was called Dogs Playing Poker, and the most familiar one, painted in 1894, was called A Friend In Need (which refers to the bulldog lending an Ace to the poker  buddy next to him). Critics never thought of Coolidge’s paintings to be real art, but people loved them, and still do. On April 1 2002, the director of the Chrysler Museum of Art in Virginia sent out a press release claiming he was trying to acquire the paintings for the museum. It was a joke, but the director admitted that he always liked them.

I think we like them because it lifts our spirits to look at them. I think that’s a legitimate reason for art to exist. I think that’s a reason my art is something that people want in their homes, too.