Horse & Dog is a film by Boyd Webb (b. 1947, New Zealand), a British artist internationally renowned for his surreal, offbeat, and thought-provoking photographic and video works. Best known for blending reality and fantasy through meticulously staged images, Webb’s distinct visual language highlights the absurdities of human existence with droll humor and conceptual rigor.
Shot on location in Sussex with a professional cast and crew, Horse & Dog brings Webb’s hallmark sensibility to the screen, echoing the absurdity and surrealism found in his photographic oeuvre. The film reflects his enduring interest in theatricality, constructed environments, and the disquieting intersection between the natural and the artificial.
Webb moved to the UK in the late 1970s and quickly established himself within the contemporary art scene. His early photographic works—characterized by elaborate sets, symbolic props, and allegorical narratives—explored themes of identity, power, and transformation. Deeply influenced by literature, mythology, and visual culture, Webb’s art constructs uncanny, hyperreal tableaux that question the nature of perception and representation.
A Turner Prize nominee in 1988, Webb has exhibited widely both in the UK and internationally. Notable solo exhibitions include Boyd Webb: Photographs (Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1987), Boyd Webb: New Works (Museum of Modern Art, Stockholm, 1990), and Boyd Webb: Works on Paper (National Museum of Art, Osaka, 1998). His work has also featured in major group shows, such as Photography and Beyond (Tate Gallery, London, 1996) and exhibitions at the Serpentine Gallery.
Horse & Dog was commissioned by the Estorick Collection, Film and Video Umbrella, and The Laboratory at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, University of Oxford, in collaboration with the De La Warr Pavilion and Milton Keynes Gallery. It was exhibited at the Cube and Middle Galleries.
