Friday, October 30, 2009

Postcard Friendship Friday

Postcard Friendship Friday is hosted every week by our lovely postmistress, Marie.

I wanted to come up with something special for Halloween.
I found a collection of postcards called
Famous Painted Cats.
It was published by Ten Speed Press in 2004
and has 24 postcards.

I picked three of my favorites that said Halloween to me.



This is Bone Voyage, 2000, vegetable dye and neutralized bleach on Bruno, tabby and white shorthair moggy. T. Yates, SanFrancisco.

The back of the postcard reads: "Zeno Baron's work conforms to Braque's requirement that art should disturb, to say nothing of making you jump out of your skin. It was once described by a critic as being "...on the teasing edge of macabre with an increasing tendency to fall right off." But Baron refutes such detractors by saying they're "shallow," and "afraid to engage with the inner message."



Miss Chatreuse, 2001, Vegetable dye on Stella, white moggy. P. Knight, Toledo.

The back of the postcard reads: "Robert Geldzahlor's cats are designed to be a celebration of female night sports with all the glitzy jewelry, makeup, and weapons of mass seduction beautifully painted on their silken attire. They preen, they gossip, they stalk their prey, and provide a vivid reminder of the animal that lurks within us all."


Heavenly Bodies, 2001. Organic peroxide on Blackie and Patch, black and white moggies. D. McGill, Edinburgh.

The back of the postcard reads: "Kate Bishop works quickly using stencils and an electrostatic airbrush, to position images at the correct height so they can interact with images on other cats. As the cats move about in a confined, space, the images merge, becoming partially obscured and transformed in a vast orchestration of rapidly changing random forms, each one representing the sum of its infinite possibilities. This work has been described as representing a significant advance in the celestial-bestial chromosphere."

From the back of the book: "Cat painting, once the preserve of a few Midwest American artists, is becoming so mainstream that it's possible to see a cat being styled and painted in a specialized beauty salon or competing for "Best Painted Cat" at a pet show. In other cultures it's not so new. people paint their cats in India and Japan and if you traveled to Ayuba, an independent territry of Botswana in the Okavango Delta, you would find the local Bayeyi people using bark dyes to paaint butterflies on their cats' faces."

The one thing I know for sure, I've never lived with a cat who would stand for being painted. Having a portrait done is one thing, but actually being painted -- NO WAY!

I hope you all have a Happy Halloween.
Happy PFF!


11 comments:

Postcardy said...

I never saw painted cats before and never saw the word "moggy" before either.

Mescrap said...

I first seen those painted cat :p
The 2nd picture really gave a feel of horror. But matching with the title Halloween.

Anonymous said...

I never was sure if people actually painted these cats or if they just used Photoshop afterwards. Now I know!

The Bodhi Chicklet said...

I have to say that this is the first I've seen of painted cats. It must take a special cat to sit for such detail. I think they would love it if they saw themselves in the mirror! Happy halloween to you too.

viridian said...

The first photo is scary! I cannot think of a cat who would sit still for this unless drugged (and I wouldn't do that to a sweet cat).

Margo said...

these are fascinating - and creepy!

Betsy Banks Adams said...

I wondered how they would get those cats to stay still in order to be painted.... Cats hate someone messing with them... Maybe someone drugged them...????? WELL--however they did it--that first one is amazing...

Happy Halloween.
Hugs,
Betsy

Sheila @ A Postcard a Day said...

Our cat is remarkably patient but even he would be unlikely to enjoy being painted, I'm sure. Nevertheless, they are beautiful images!

LiT Web Studio said...

now THAT is bizarre! what an absolutely brilliant find for halloween...although, having once had a scary cat of my own called beelzebub, can see this as entirely fitting!

Anonymous said...

That first image certainly is "creepy".
I can't believe any cat would allow
themselves to be bleached! Moon and stars
are kind of cool though.

Corrine

Beth Niquette said...

I've looked at books of cat paintings. It is wild! Thank you for sharing these and a happy PFF to you!