Faces of the doomed: Artist immortalizes 5,500 shelter dogs by painting each of their portraits before they are put down

Mark Barone of Louisville, Kentucky hopes to spread awareness about the no-kill shelter alternative using the sad faces of euthanized dogs



Barone was inspired to do the project after learning that 5,500 dogs are put to sleep in the U.S. every day

He paints 10 portraits per day and is 3,500 paintings into the project he hopes to make into a museum

A Kentucky artist is on a mission to paint 5,500 portraits of shelter dogs doomed to be put to sleep.



That’s the number of dogs killed per day in U.S. shelters, a number that shocked Mark Barone enough to start doing something about it.



By putting a face to the statistic, Barone hopes to spread awareness of the plight of homeless animals in the U.S.

Inspired: Kentucky artist Mark Barone spends each day painting doomed shelter dogs as part of a project to create 5,500 canine portraits

It began after Barone’s own dog of 21 years, Santina, died three years ago.



His partner Marina Dervan thought it would be a good idea to adopt a new dog.

‘Mark was not interested,’ Dervan told Fast Company . ‘He just wasn't ready…But that didn't stop me. I was going online and looking at dogs. But instead of finding a dog, I found out all of the statistics about what was going on in terms of the amount of animals who were being killed in our shelter system.’



Dervan said she began sending the alarming information along to Mark who, at first, didn’t want to look at it. ‘Two days later, he said, “I have a really clear vision of what I want to do to solve the problem.”’

A videos of how the project came about can be found on Barone and Dervan's website .

Touching: Barone paints the dogs whose stories affect him most deeply on giant 8'X8' canvasses. Here, he paints a dog named Oreo

In memoriam: Barone was inspired to spread awareness of the plight of shelter dogs after his own dog Santina (left) died and he learned that 5,500 dogs are euthanized each day in the U.S.

Halo: Barone and his partner Marina Dervan name each of the dogs, whose pictures are sent to them by shelters with only ID numbers. Halo, pictured, was deemed unadoptable because of her advanced age

AN ACT OF DOG from Sarah Haeberle on Vimeo.

Barone decided to paint 5,500 portraits using photos posted to shelter websites.

According to ABC News , various shelters send Barone photos of dogs that have been put to sleep, in order that they be memorialized.



The goal is to create a massive memorial that will help spread the word about the problem of countless dog deaths in kill shelters across America.

Rosco (pictured) wasn't adopted because he's deaf. 'There is a no-kill solution,' says Dervan

T-Bone: Devan and Barone are on a mission to help more animal shelter convert to no-kill shelters

Lucas: A large proportion of euthanized dogs are pit bulls and pit bull mixes

‘There is a no-kill solution,’ Dervan said, ‘which more and more shelters are beginning to use. We are trying to raise awareness and spread education on the topic.’



Barone paints around 10 portraits per day and he’s two years and 3,500 portraits into the project.



Each painting is 12’’X12’’,but the very special ones are as large as eight square feet.

Diamond: Barone wants to put 5,500 faces to the issue of America's overcrowded animal shelters

Jim: 'We are trying to raise awareness and spread education on the topic,' say Dervan. Jim was described as a 'sad and withdrawn' dog

'Breeze was killed because she was shy and frail,' says Dervan. She and Barone are out to 'heal a broken system'

Pit bulls like Harry are sometimes killed within hours of entering the sysem according to Dervan. She hopes the project, An Act of Dog, will help stop such euthanization

Jackie: Dervan and Barone believe all 5,500 euthanizations that happen each day in the U.S. is preventable. Jackie had 'food bowl aggression,' but the artist doesn't believe she deserved to be put down

‘The size of the project is half the size of the Sistine Chapel,’ Barone says. ‘The Sistine Chapel is 11,000 square feet, and this will be 5,500 square feet. If you stack the paintings 10 feet tall, it'll be two football fields long.’



Barone and Dervan have dubbed the project An Act of Dog and they hope to partner with a philanthropist or city to install the giant work as a permanent display to help raise funds toward turning more shelters into no-kill shelters.

Sita (pictured) was another pit bull mix. They are some of the most common dogs in shelters

Barone works on his portraits everyday starting in the morning and sometimes continues well into the night. Pictured is Manny

Mission: Barone is now two years and 3,500 portraits into his projects he hope will get funded to become a museum memorial dedicated to ending kill shelters







