If you've every laid awake at 3 in the morning listening to
the soulful strains of your neighborhood Tom cat serenading his
sweetheart, you don't need to be told that cats are no strangers
to the fine arts. Their vocal talents are renowned throughout
the world, and they've long been considered the muse of choice
for working writers.
But until recently, the feline artist has gone largely unrecognized.
Many people aren't even aware of the thriving community of creative
cats whose extraordinary works of art can be found - with a little
effort and research - in exhibits, galleries and private homes
throughout the world. As your awareness of feline artistry increases,
you may discover the next Picatso or Meowtisse is living in your
own home, just waiting for the right opportunity to release his
inner cat.
I'm embarrassed to admit, until I stumbled across Heather Busch
and Burton Silver's enlightening study of the feline aesthetic,
Why Cats Paint,I was completely unaware of feline forays
into the plastic arts.
Why do cats paint? As God's most purrfect creation, shouldn't
they be content to BE works of art? Well, of course, many of them
are. But others yearn to express their most purrsonal feelings
and thoughts in classic art forms that will live on well beyond
their own nine lives.
Not surprisingly, cat's aesthetic roots go back to ancient
Egyptian times. According to Busch and Silver, many classical
Egyptian paintings clearly depict cats in the act of painting.
A Victorian-era poster unearthed by the authors testifies to the
popularity of the most famous painting cat of his time, Mattissa.
A talented ginger tabby with a flare for showmanship, Mattissa
took his act on the road, deftly painting pawtraits of audience
members.
The book's most revealing passages can be found in the profiles
of 12 major cat artists and their work. Wong Wong and Lu Lu, two
soulful Siamese collaborators, often take rides on their horses
to get in touch with cosmic resonances at a higher level which
is "less prone to the harmonic surges encountered at ground
level." This discipline has resulted in such profound paintings
as their well-known piece, "Galloping," described by
critics as a brilliant "blend of energy and lyricism."
My favorite of the 12 profiled artists is Bootsie, the transexpressionist.
Bootsie frequently experiences such intense pleasure in his creative
bouts he literally pounces on his paints, leaping at the canvas
to apply quick, ferocious strokes. Bootsie has been in a bad mood
ever since he was neutered, sent to a boarding cattery, and caught
by the family dog in the same week. But he's taken his revenge
by earning over $75,000 from his vigorous oeuvres, such as "Parrot
Time" and the delightfully hostile "Hands Up! Mr. Rooster."
Feline artistic expression certainly isn't limited to canvas,
as most cat owners are only too well aware. Creative cats have
explored such art media as venetian blinds, upholstered furniture,
litter boxes, balls of yarn, bathtubs, walls, and fences. Radar,
an avant-garde British shorthair on the slashing edge of cat art,
uses mice as her medium of choice. At least one cat art critic,
deeply impressed with her simple but insightful "Infra-mice,"
was moved to describe it as "a beautifully balanced and peaceful
arrangement of two dead mice who seem to float together on a calm
gray ocean."
What will our imaginative companions tackle next? Could their
dreams be filled with fantasies of becoming the first feline Fellini?
Possibly, but the intrepid investigative team of Busch and Silver
has already uncovered another growing phenomenon in the feline
cultural world - dancing with your humans!
[This article is based on the thoroughly researched study,
Why Cats Paint, by Heather Busch & Burton Silver, Ten
Speed Press, Berkeley, 1994. For more information on creative
creatures, visit the Museum of
Nonprimate Art's fascinating site.]
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