UNLV Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art
Las Vegas, Nevada
We believe everyone deserves access to art that challenges our understanding of the present and inspires us to create a future that makes space for us all.
MessageLiving Here
- June 20, 2025 - December 20, 2025
- Exhibition
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- Artwork
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- Artists
Stephanie H. Shih
Cats and Dogs, 2023
Ceramic
Courtesy of the artist and Berggruen Gallery
This work is on loan for the exhibition, Living Here, at the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art, June 20 - December 20, 2025
Cats and Dogs brings a maneki-neko—the figure of a cat beckoning us closer—together with a video of Snoopy Come Home, an animated movie about a pet dog who feels emotionally torn between two owners. The maneki-neko originated in Japan, but it has been adopted by other Asian cultures. In the United States it is often seen welcoming customers into Chinese American restaurants and stores. The blank TV screen suggests indecision—what will it “play”? By choosing a VHS tape and a CRT monitor, rather than a contemporary digital stream on a flatscreen TV, Shih places the decision away from us in time, hinting that this moment of choosing between different locations can be recalled but never recovered.