Contributed by Helen Kauder / A friend once confided that he adopted a dog just so he could pick up dates while walking in the park. I was reminded of this while viewing “Deus Ex-Bark-ina,” the flirtatious dog-themed exhibition that just opened at the Ely Center of Contemporary Art in New Haven. Romance and animal attraction is everywhere. Curated by painter Mike Morgan and featuring the work of over 55 contemporary artists, this eclectic and jam-packed show is a potent salve for this atomized and polarized time, affording us a moment to share our deep affective bonds with the canine family. The artists reject simplistic notions of the dog as obedient instrument or intuitive hero, imbuing the animal with agency, magnetism, and mystery. We come to appreciate dogs as primal and sensual beings, and, through works in paint, mixed media, video, and sculpture, see them in exposed, autonomous, and emotional states.