There is a lot of superb contemporary realism being made these days; this article by Allison Malafronte shines light on a gifted individual.
For more than 15 years, Fan Yu (b. 1985) was a successful groomer and handler of show dogs in competitions and seminars around the world. In 2009, little did he know that his innate artistic talent was about to intersect with his current career and lead him on a new path of creating clay and bronze sculptures of dogs.
Fan grew up in China’s culturally rich Imperial City, Beijing, in a visually sophisticated family. His parents dedicated most of their lives to Chinese classical architecture and exposed Fan to aesthetics at an early age. As a child obsessed with animals, he often accompanied his father to the zoo with a sketchbook in hand, and he amassed a large collection of animal books to sketch from as well.
As he got older, Fan realized the pressures of the Chinese education system didn’t suit him, so he pursued other paths. When an injury kept him bedridden for half a year, he began learning about purebred dogs through a book his father had bought him. Once recovered, Fan took a dog show handling class in Beijing and slowly began entering the profession.
In 2009 Fan created his first sculpture of the striking Kerry Blue Terrier “Mick” — the winner of several Best in Show awards — to present to Mick’s professional handler, Bill McFadden, who has long inspired him. Fan’s intimate understanding of the canine spirit, attained through many years of grooming and handling, allowed his hands to sculpt with informed ease, and the results were not only eye-opening for him but also for the public.
He began receiving numerous inquiries and commissions from owners, breeders, and kennel clubs worldwide. Clearly Fan had found his niche and started dedicating more time to his new passion, finally leaving the world of professional dog handling in 2017. “The hustle and bustle, triumphs, and frustration of my dog show career inspired me to follow my intuition, and once that intuition was awakened, I just followed the momentum,” the artist says.
Today Fan resides in Claremont, California, with his wife, Amy, and his sculptures are celebrated both in the dog show community and in the field of fine art. Particularly rewarding is the fact that, every day, Fan gets to create art that is a culmination of his lifelong interests and passions.
“The loyalty, kindness, simplicity, and directness I see in dogs’ eyes has always moved me,” the artist explains. “Every time I finish a sculpture, I feel like it has also sculpted a piece of my inner soul. As time passes, the dogs have sculpted me into who I am. In a sense, we are one.”
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