Why cats paint

21 Oct 2007 4 Comments

by madsilence in Animal Art, Artist Spotlight, Life, MadSilence, Popular Culture Tags: Art

I’m almost embarrassed to mention this statistic, but our top posts for the 30 days ending October 21, 2007 include these perennial favorites:

Chimpanzee Art
Action Painting: Roosters, Maggots and Trees
Sammy, the canine abstract artist
When Good Dogs Go…Artistic

Apparently the topic of dogs, monkeys, chimpanzees, maggots and trees that create art, or are used by artists to create art, is a popular one. I’m not sure as to why the appeal is so powerful but here are some more links to artists who are also animals.

The Cyber Animal Art Gallerypresented by The Loop is touted as “the first-ever Cyber Animal Art Show celebrating the works of painting pachyderms, porpoises, penguins, pigs and a rhinoceros. Admission is free.” 

Now the four p’s I can see, but a rhino?

 

Elusive Dragon by Kamala (Asian Elephant), The Calgary Zoo (from www.gettheloop.com) 

Sea lions may be color blind but they can be taught to place a paint-laden brush on canvas. Some call it art. From FoxNews.com:  Maggie the Sea Lion Paints for Fish.  And why would Maggie paint for anybody else? 

And then there are cats that paint, brought to us by the Musuem of Non Primate Art. Try these links from MONPA:

Cat Works, An Exhibition of photographs of Cats painting
Why Cats Paint – A Documentary

 

Frequent Feathers (1994) by unidentified feline artist. Scented Acrylic on cotton bed sheet, 220 x 110cm. From the MONPA site.  

There’s even a book on the subject:  Why Cats Paint: A Theory of Feline Aesthetics by Heather Busch and Burton Silver published by Ten Speed Press.

We also have MONPA to thank for the art of splay, bird droppings, or ornithological dejecta. I love that phrase by the way: orn-ith-o-logical de-jecta. But wouldn’t the proper fake latin word be rejecta? And where did they get the word “splay” from anyway? “Bird droppings” has always been good enough for me, augmented by a few choice curse words when the splay (oops!) decorates my car’s windshield.

To quote from the website:

“Mounted splays both real and artificial, while admittedly still a controversial element of the art scene, are beginning to command high prices. A dual splay of the Blue Winged Teal, dated 1983, was sold recently in a leading Dallas gallery for $6000. Similar prices for top quality compositions have been obtained in London’s Cork Street. This trend comes as a surprise to the many who question whether splays can truly be works of art.”

You can learn more than you ever wanted to know about the anatomy of the splay here.

 

So there you have it. It seems that some people just have too much time on their hands.

~TAB

Advertisement