Jen Catron and Paul Outlaw:
October 4 to November 13, 2023
Dog House Gallery is pleased to present Meat Sweats, an exhibition of works by artist duo Jen Catron and Paul Outlaw.
Meat Sweats is an excessive display of raw, decadent meat: a feast for the eyes. The ceramic meats mimic a common display found in butcher shops but inhabit a display case inside a comedy club instead. Throughout the duration of the show the meats —chicken, sausage, hamburger, and more — appear to be continuously sweating, as if being overheated to death. The result is grotesque and humorous, with an absurd nod to its unique location.
Babak Ganjei: Greatest Hits B-Sides and Rarities Vol. 1
November 16 to December 31, 2023
Dog House Gallery is thrilled to introduce London-based artist Babak Ganjei’s first solo exhibition in New York, Greatest Hits B-Sides and Rarities Vol. 1. Ganjei’s original, comedic drawings have been international hits, amassing the artist over 35,000 followers on Instagram.
Greatest Hits B-Sides and Rarities Vol. 1 features new versions of the text drawings that made Ganjei Instagram-famous. His Film Ideas series started on Twitter, with each entry’s cutting brevity stemming from the platform’s 140-character limit. Other works are more diaristic and confessional, making personal moments and insecurities public in a relatable way. Ganjei has scaled his greatest hits down for his New York debut, miniaturizing them to fit in the Dog House Gallery display case. Their size has been reduced, but their comedic value has not, with the drawings combining Ganjei’s dry, self-deprecating sense of humor with a DIY aesthetic.
David Kramer: Running Joke
Four Self-Deprecating Paintings Over Four Nights
January 4-February 19, 2024
Dog House Gallery is pleased to present Running Joke, an exhibition of paintings by David Kramer.
Act 1: Small Potatoes.
David Kramer hangs a painting of a sack of small white potatoes in a glass case behind a bar in the lobby of a comedy club in Brooklyn on a cold January night. Guests arrive. Drinks are served.
This act repeats itself on three additional nights during the exhibition, gradually revealing a body of new work. And, perhaps, simultaneously revealing the punchline to a long-winded joke.
Behind the scenes, Kramer is slowly, cautiously, and self-consciously revealing that this new body of work signals a major change of direction. But like most punchlines and the best humor, this is layered with an honest assessment of the situation. Kramer has begun to peel away the text from his work (which has been a staple of his painting for years), only to admit that his epic changes are perhaps just small potatoes in the grand scheme of thing,s in the long arc of art history and a long history of paintings that never came with text on them before in the first place.
At the opening reception, BCC Artistic Director Phillip Markle, in character as a comedic “art expert,” will discuss David’s painting with the exhibition’s curator, Lisa Levy.
Shampoooty: Kids Toys, Adult Issues
March 22-May 10, 2024
Dog House Gallery presents Kids Toys, Adult Issues, an exhibition by emerging Brooklyn-based artist, inventor, fabricator, and interactive technology engineer Andy Sahlstrom, known as Shampoooty on social media. This exhibition marks a cozy NYC solo show for Shampoooty after a series of successful exhibitions across the country.
Kids Toys, Adult Issues remixes childhood innocence with the complexities and darker aspects of adulthood through an impressive collection of 3D models and physical sculptures. This body of work challenges viewers to reconsider their perceptions of play and seriousness, blending humor with thought-provoking commentary on contemporary life.
Michael Buckland: RETROSPECTIVE
May 17-July 12, 2024
Dog House Gallery is pleased to present RETROSPECTIVE, an exhibition of works by conceptual artist Michael Buckland.
A mirror, a clock, a poster, an egg, presidents, pencils, and a signed baseball are a partial list of ingredients for the exhibition Retrospective. This motley selection of things attempts to produce a quotidian variety show of ideas and objects. Humor occasionally comes to the surface.
Dave Zackin: 10,000 Bad Ideas
Sept 13—Oct 18, 2024
Dog House Gallery is pleased to present 10,000 Bad Ideas, an exhibition of sculptures by Dave Zackin.
Dave Zackin's 10,000 Bad Ideas features works and images from nine years of daily ceramic vessel creation. By combining half-finished and abandoned vessels thrown by others with his own half-formed thoughts, the artist aims for a trial-and-error catharsis. The work uses sculpted faces, text, and humor to recontextualize vases and dishes as daily comics and art objects. Zackin’s work is rarely exhibited in a gallery setting, as he sells most of his pieces online and can barely keep up with demand.
Nancy Elsamanoudi: Donut Dog
Oct 25—Dec. 31, 2024
Dog House Gallery is pleased to present Donut Dog, a solo exhibition of new paintings and sculptures by Nancy Elsamanoudi.
Elsamanoudi’s whimsical and humorous body of work draws inspiration from funny pet videos from TikTok, adorable celebrity animals like Pesto the king penguin chick and Moo Deng the baby pygmy hippo, and her beloved poodle Fergus. Her colorful paintings investigate the complex relationships between animals and humans, from sunglasses-wearing dogs eating “people food” and orange cats causing chaos to animals from social media that seem too cute to be real. Elsamanoudi’s work examines the bonds we share with the animal kingdom, whether the closeness we feel from our animal companions or the parasocial relationships we develop with impossibly adorable creatures on TikTok.
Tawanda Gona: I’m (trying) my best
Jan. 3- Jan. 17, 2025
Dog House Gallery is pleased to present I’m (trying) my best, a solo exhibition of new paintings by Tawanda Gona, opening January 3, 2025. Drawing inspiration from memes and comic strips, Gona’s work merges the solipsism of internet culture with the candid self-deprecation of stand-up comedy. Thought-bubbles tell us every minor concern that crosses the minds of Gona’s subjects. Many raise Larry David-level petty complaints, prompting viewers to wonder: is it really that big of a deal? Others pose more serious critiques of advertisements that over-promise and social media’s failure to create meaningful connections. Tongue-and-cheek jokes are often thinly veiled invocations of sociological and existential questions. As do many of the best comedians, Gona uses the comfort of laughs to inch viewers closer to hard truths.
Yoshie Sakai: Christmas in January “Obaa-chan” Style
Jan. 3- Jan. 17, 2025
Dog House Gallery is pleased to present "Christmas in January “Obaa-chan” Style, inspired by Sakai's relationship with her “obaa-chan” (grandmother in Japanese), a first-generation immigrant from Japan. Like many immigrant families, the first generation sacrificed greatly for financial stability = love = a better future for their children and grandchildren. Her “obaa-chan” lived day-to-day, unable to save much. Even in her 80s, she faced new stresses navigating family dynamics and the pressures of consumer culture, often feeling inadequate for not being able to buy expensive Christmas gifts.
PAUL GAGNER: The Leftovers Community Thrift Store
April 25-June 6, 2025
What would the dregs of a thrift store collection look like? The Leftovers Community Thrift Store tries to answer this with a collection of intentionally unwanted objects looking for homes at affordable prices.
This humorous display of random objects, handmade by artist Paul Gagner, is often found at thrift stores. The installation creates tension between the melancholy of discarded possessions and humor at the absurdity of their continued existence within the consumer cycle. Through this deliberate curation of the undesirable, Gagner invites viewers to contemplate notions of value, waste, and the life cycle of consumer goods. The Dog House Gallery’s mission is to bring funny artists to people who take humor seriously, so Paul’s work is a perfect fit.
SARA SCHAEFER: A Few Slight Concerns
Exhibition Dates: June 13—Sept. 5, 2025
“A FEW SLIGHT CONCERNS” is a series of intimate miniature scenes—tiny, self-contained worlds that reflect the quiet architecture of worry. Each room is a sculptural portrait of a personal anxiety: the undone task, a haunting social interaction, the career blunder, a mysterious bump under the skin.
Built by hand at 1:12 scale, they invite the viewer to lean in, to peer closely, echoing the way I often hyper-focus on the granular details of my own internal landscape.
This project began as a way to give form to the often unspoken and invisible terrain of overthinking. My ruminations are, in the grand scheme, slight—insignificant next to the scale of real global crises, systemic issues, and collective suffering. Yet I linger on them, unable to decipher if my problems are big enough to name and share.
By obsessing over the construction of these tiny spaces, I mirror my own mental spirals: carefully arranged messes, intricately sculpted unease, minimized emotions. This work does not seek to diminish the legitimacy of personal struggle, but rather to put it on a shelf, walk away, and do something else for a while. But also, it’s just super fucking cute.
CHARLES TRAUB: Something Funny in the STILLLIFE
September 26th 2025 - Jan 2 2026
Charles H. Traub is an American photographer and educator known for his ironic and insightful color photography. He is a pioneer in digital photography and has been a leading figure in photographic education for over 40 years. Traub’s work is characterized by its sharp observation of everyday life and its exploration of the relationship between photography and reality. He is particularly interested in how photography can create a sense of irony and humor.
Traub has exhibited his work extensively in galleries and museums worldwide, and his photographs are included in the permanent collections of many major institutions. He has also received numerous awards, including the Guggenheim Fellowship and the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. He has authored diverse monographs and books on photography.
Traub is a passionate advocate for photography and continues to inspire and challenge students and photographers alike. From 1987 to the present, Charles has been the chair of the Department of Photography, Video, and Related Media at the School of Visual Arts in New York.
