2008 Cats

My current series began as a rebellious gesture towards the self-appointed primacy of the contemporary art world, by questioning how an obvious cat painting can thrive within it. Cat obsession acts as a metaphor for the artist, alone in their studio fixated with one topic. Carefully chosen flea-market frames amplify the subject’s kitsch value, and create a deliberate confusion of intent—is this a serious attempt at joining the art-historical canon, or a mass-market collectible?

Baroque lighting, Fauvist color, and expressionistic marks extend the distance from the tawdry point of origin. Gold and silver paint may conjure a Byzantine icon, while fluorescent colors suggest preteen girly cuteness. The overall darkness alludes to black velvet paintings. Over-articulated eyes reference a more naïve approach to portraiture. Via odd juxtapositions of color and violent mark-making, I transform comforting cuteness into a malevolent being. Ultimately, I hope the cat paintings’ beauty and strangeness force the viewer to renegotiate their prejudices, and see something familiar in an unforeseen light.