San Francisco-based artist and illustrator Mark Ulriksen says it's hard to stand out in today's blitz of media.
Anyone who's ever glanced at his work might disagree. Whether in The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Time, Newsweek, The New York Times, or any number of other national magazines and newspapers, his trademark, graphic, tiny-handed caricatures are instantly recognizable.
Now out with a new book, Dogs Rule, Nonchalantly, Ulriksen is the ultimate operator. Selected from 100 paintings the 57-year-old artist completed during his career to date, the 67 images in Dogs Rule (five are originals created for the book) introduce eight dogs he has known intimately and tells a universal story of devotion, drooling, death, and the unlimited dividends of living with man's best friend.
The combined firepower has produced a hoopla, but Ulriksen's not resting on his laurels. After the San Francisco Giants won the World Series, Ulriksen set out to complete what is now a trilogy: commemorative paintings celebrating the 2010, '12, and '14 victories. Dogs and baseball players might not have that much in common at first glance, but both sets of illustrations draw from Ulriksen's real life to produce something memorable.
SF Weekly: It seems like you've had a lot of dogs in your life. Do you have good dog karma?
Mark Ulriksen: There are a lot of dogs in the book because it's not only the dogs I had when I was a kid. My parents got divorced and they each had dogs. My mom became a widow when my stepfather died and got another dog, and then my in-laws have a dog, so yeah, there've been a lot of dogs. We've only had two since my marriage, both chocolate labs, Henry and Ted.
Let's say you are reincarnated as a dog. What kind would you be?
I once answered questions for an online thing where they asked what kind of car you drove, then told you what kind of dog you'd be based on the car. My wife came up as a golden retriever. I was a chihuahua, which didn't strike me as the kind of dog I'd be. I'd definitely be a retriever because they're wonderful, friendly dogs — or a good old mutt because I'd live a long time. I'm a huge fan of The Wire and if I had a terrier I'd name it McNulty.
I'm interested in "nonchalantly." Why that word, which tends to mean cool and calm and not the bundle of energy and enthusiasm you show dogs to have in your book?
It came to me at one point while working on the book. I remembered one painting I did for a very scientific article for Atlantic Monthly about how smart dogs are at getting what they want. If we're decent owners and give them love, they'll get all their needs met. They do it in a way that's subtle and in a way that satisfies some of our needs. It's a simpatico relationship. They rule, but nonchalantly.
Of the 67 images in the book, five are new. Tell me about them and why they were necessary. What hole do they fill?
The book goes back and forth between personal and general. I'd think about my dogs and write anecdotes. They don't really fill holes, but all of them felt necessary to bridge or sum up ideas. The book wouldn't be complete without them.
One, I was making a comparison between Ted, a perfect dog and the focus of our attention because we didn't have kids, and Henry. When we got Henry it was always raining and training him was hard. He'd pee in the house, but we loved him madly. His idiosyncrasy now is that he won't walk on hardwood floors. We have to lay down towels or put rugs together so he'll come in our bedroom. I needed a painting to go with saying something about that, so that's one of the additions.
This is one of a series of books you plan to produce. What's next?
This next one will be baseball because I have a backlog of baseball paintings. [Dogs Rule producer] Tom [Walker] wants a book on how to draw a dog, then one on how to see, and a dogs versus cats book. You have to keep evolving and changing, so having done 20 straight years of editorial deadlines, I'm planning more books. I'm interested in things that are more permanent than magazine illustrations
The Giants: We have to talk about them because I know you're a huge fan. Did you have fun during the World Series? Make predictions?
My work day ended 30 minutes before [each game]. We had potlucks: wine, beer, cheering, moaning, and groaning. In the past I've done two paintings of the Giants and [self-produced] prints.
You're creating one acrylic painting titled "Three-Ring Circus," with seminal moments from the series. How many prints will you produce?
I'll be making signed, limited-edition archival prints on watercolor paper. One hundred small [11" x 17"], seventy-five medium [16" x 24"], and five large [30" x 44"].
When will they be ready for sale and how do people line up for them?
I hope I can finish the painting in mid-November and prints by the beginning of December. My email is mark@markulriksen.com. Operators (me!) will be standing by. Or they can contact me via Facebook. I even talk on the phone occasionally with interested folks. But as you can tell this is a mom-and-pop production here.
Who's the hardest Giant to draw and why?
The hardest Giant to draw has been "Pandaval," as my daughter Lily calls him. It was so classic, his catching the last out of the World Series with the tying run on third base and then flopping to the ground in exhaustion and relief. The New York Times has a good shot of that moment and I've had to take the perspective from that photo and more or less turn him about 45 degrees clockwise to fit in with my composition.
What other moments are captured and was it hard to select them?
Obviously Madison Bumgarner and his slingshot delivery is the focal point. Around the infield, Sandoval is lying on the ground with the last out securely in his glove; Crawford and Panik are completing that amazing double-play from Game 7; and Belt is sliding into first, beating a runner to the bag. In the outfield, Pence in right is about to slam into the wall with that great catch he made against St. Louis; Blanco is sliding in for a catch in center — he will catch this ball, I wouldn't care to highlight his gaffe in the 9th inning of Game 7 — and Ishikawa in left is about to slam down his helmet after he hit his Giants-win-the-pennant-home run against the Cards. Not realistic, but this is a painting after all. On the scoreboard are both Buster Posey and Michael Morse. I didn't manage to get in Jeremy Affelt or Yusemeiro Petite, both huge contributors to this post-season run. Figuring out who to leave in or out is always difficult and like the past championships, most of these moments will live on in Giants lore forever.
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