Discover how Joseph Sulkowski captures the essence of humanity by painting dogs in his epic masterpiece, “Apokalupsis.” Explore his stunning Old Masters-inspired style and the deeper meaning behind his art.
By David Masello
Joseph H. Sulkowski (b. 1951) set out to paint the world we inhabit and that inhabits us. He wanted to create a work that depicts all that defines the human condition, of the past and of the now. No one can claim he is not ambitious.
Even 15 years ago, when Sulkowski began sketching out what would eventually become a canvas measuring eight feet high and almost 13 feet wide, he knew he wanted to include references “to the iconic energies that inform our lives.” He sought to depict on this epic canvas — something he knew would become his magnum opus — the seven deadly sins that tempt us all, no matter what our religious or spiritual beliefs. He wanted to show the ancient Greek ideal of the Three Graces (beauty, joy, and love), attributes to which we aspire and are attracted.
Sulkowski also wanted to ensure that the five senses we experience daily as humans would be apparent, and to convey our primal compulsions — to eat, to stay alive, to procreate as a species. Also important was to show those four fundamental elements of life that don’t appear on the periodic table — earth, wind, fire, and water.
To accomplish this monumental self-imposed task summing up the very ethos of human nature and human life on earth, Sulkowski chose to depict foxhounds. Yes, a pack of 38 dogs, immersed in their hunt, interacting with one another in a pastoral landscape, exhibiting behaviors both noble and base, instinctive and learned, functioning as archetypes for us humans. Painted in oils on a fine Belgian linen canvas, the result is titled “Apokalupsis: An Uncovering.”
Whether the viewer is a “dog person” or not, “Apokalupsis” manages to speak to everyone about who we are as people, unlikely as that may sound. Sulkowski writes: “The dogs are a metaphor for humanity, and the landscape they inhabit is symbolic of the field of time and space each of us occupies and negotiates every day. Foxhounds, from the objective universe, are the vehicle I have chosen to take you, the viewer, into the unseen aspects of your own consciousness.” To view the work, then, is akin to subjecting yourself to a kind of self-examination, a concentrated therapy session, a pleasurable inner-body experience.
Sulkowski’s home and studio are located in Franklin, Tennessee — 20 miles south of downtown Nashville. Though he has painted many a human figure over the years, along with contemplative still lifes, he has been most keenly admired as a “sporting artist,” referencing the popular genre that features animals in their natural and sporting habitats — horses mid-gallop, elks and antelopes grazing, foxhounds on the trail, bison clinging to rock faces.
Maryvonne Leshe, owner of Trailside Galleries in Jackson Hole and Scottsdale, and Sulkowski’s longtime representative, recalls her first encounter with his work, in 1999: “It was not just the subject matter of dogs that spoke to me, but also how Joseph paints in the style of the Old Masters — full of light, wonderful brushwork, soft edges, the subtle positioning of the dog’s head, stance, ears, etc. He captures their soul, with each painting telling a story about this dog’s life.”
Leshe came to know Sulkowski through his wife, Elizabeth Brandon, a self-described poetic realist known for her still lifes, whom Leshe was then (and is still) representing. “I immediately was drawn not only to his obvious talent, exquisite painting, and style, but also to his subject matter. Having grown up with dogs from early childhood, and having become a parent to many of them later, it is no wonder that I have a passion for dogs in art.” But it was after seeing Sulkowski’s book, Masters & Hounds (2004), that Leshe was sufficiently awed to take him on as one of her gallery’s featured artists. “That book contains some of the finest dog art I have ever seen.”
For both Leshe and Sulkowski, owning and raising dogs can be such a poignant endeavor that it is sometimes “easier” to admire them from afar than to live with them. The painter says he and his wife have “gone through our lives with different dogs along the way.” Of the nine dogs he has owned, Sulkowski says some became more like children than others, notably a pair of deceased Boston Terriers. “We’ve had Redbone Coonhounds, too, which don’t always make for the sweetest pets, since they’re more independent in spirit.” Not only does he know their anatomy well enough to depict them with uncanny verisimilitude, but also their character, at once adorable and engaging, yet distanced and self-sufficient.
The above article is an excerpt from our sister publication, Fine Art Connoisseur.
Related: Discover Johanne Mangi’s COMPLETE Process To Adding Life, Expression, and Personality to Your Dog Portraits with this art video workshop on painting dogs.
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