Uncaged: The Unbearable Weight of Genius Cat Art



Uncaged: The Unbearable Weight of Genius Cat Art debuted at CatCon October 1-2, 2022
at the Pasadena Convention Center in Pasadena, CA. The Cat Art Show pop-up installation
featured original works inspired by Cage’s friendship with his cat Merlin, a black Maine Coon.

Press:

Preview the Art Show Entirely Inspired by Nicolas Cage and His Cat – Nerdist

Artists Depict Nic Cage & His Cat Merlin For CatCon’s Uncaged Exhibit – Screen Rant

How Nicolas Cage and his love of cats inspired a new art show – Yahoo! Entertainment

CAT ART SHOW 4: FULL LINEUP ANNOUNCED!

CAT ART SHOW 4: A NEW BEGINNING

Themes of satire, unconditional love, and chaos prevail

(Behemoth by Anna Sokolova)

Over 80 works by 70 renowned and emerging international artists, including Gia Coppola, Frohawk Two Feathers, Haroshi, Sara Shakeel, Soey Milk, Travis Louie and Vanessa Stockard to be showcased during the 10-day exhibition in Los Angeles.

ON VIEW FROM OCTOBER 14 - 24, 2021
THE GOLDEN PAGODA
951 Mei Ling Way, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90012
12PM - 7PM Wednesday - Sunday
OPENING NIGHT THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2021
VIP Opening: 5:00PM–8:00PM
Public Opening: 8:00PM–10:00PM

RESERVE TICKETS HERE

LOS ANGELES, CA–September 23, 2021. Cat Art Show, the world’s most popular art exhibition dedicated to the feline form is back for a fourth time, opening Thursday, October 14, 2021, in the historical landmark the Golden Pagoda - formerly known as Hop Louie - in Downtown Los Angeles. This is a free event, however, tickets are required. Get tickets here

Cat Art Show 4: A New Beginning (Presented by CatCon) will feature more than 70 globally-recognized and emerging artists, including Gia Coppola, Karen Finley, Frohawk Two Feathers, Haroshi, Jim McKenzie, Soey Milk, Giulia Rosa, Vanessa Stockard, and Casey Weldon, among others. Hailing from over 16 countries, artwork ranges from sculpture to collage to painting to illustration. A full list of artists can be found here.

“With cats, you never know what to expect - physically, or emotionally,” said Susan Michals, curator and creator of the show. “Personality-wise, they can be enigmatic, elusive, loving, mischievous - all within  the course of a 2 minute time span. These creatures offer joy, comfort and a reality check against the stresses and petty concerns of our everyday lives.

In her work, Berlin based painter Anna Sokolova chose to focus on Behemoth, the furry shapeshifting character in Mikhail Bulgakov’s Soviet satire, “The Master and the Margarita”. “His hypnotic gaze can cause chaos and hallucination”, states Sokolova. “He (Behemoth) can be brilliant, philosophical, and at the same time, full of roguishness.”

Ice Cream Cat _ Jim McKenzie Water Color Painting _ LA CAT ART SHOW 2021.jpg


(Ice Cream Cat by Jim McKenzie)

Breaking away from his renowned sculptural work, Jim McKenzie offers up his first ever publicly released watercolor, showcasing a more loose and playful side. “This piece came to be after noticing the connection between my two-year-old son and his feline friend,” mused the artist. “They’re both obsessed with milk. The character is a cat/toddler hybrid that’s getting lured into eating ice cream despite his intolerance to lactose.”

As in previous years, some of the artists participating have never produced a work depicting a cat, like Frohawk Two Feathers, Lavar Munroe, and Alexandra Grant; while others, like Angela Lizon, Vanessa Stockard and Casey Weldon, thrive on showcasing the beauty, temperament and physicality of our furry friends. For more information on available works, please contact: team@catartshow.com.

Cat Art Show 1, 2 and 3 attracted close to 20,000 visitors collectively, with 4,000 visitors anticipated this year during the ten day run. Social social reach for the 2021 show is over 7M followers. Notable artists who participated in Cat Art Show 2014, 2016 and 2018 include Gary Baseman, FAILE, Brandi Milne, Britt Ehringer, Tracey Emin, Natalia Fabia, Shepard Fairey, Barry McGee, Marion Peck, Norman Reedus, and Mark Ryden with many of those names returning. Over 250 works have sold to date.

Every year, Cat Art Show donates a portion of its art sale proceeds. Works on view are for sale and 10% of sales will benefit three organizations: Kitt Crusaders, Faces of Castelar, and Milo’s Sanctuary.

COVID COMPLIANCE: All attendees must provide proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 or proof of a negative test result within 48 hours of entry. We ask that all guests please wear a mask at all times while in the gallery. For detailed information, please visit our website here.

PRESENTED BY: CatCon. Cat Art Show partners include Cakeland LA and Hint Water. Special thanks to Gia Coppola Wine, whose generous donation supports our fundraising efforts, and JB Live for providing us with our landmark location, the Golden Pagoda.

ABOUT CAT ART SHOW: Curator Susan Michals created Cat Art Show in 2014 to critical and popular acclaim. A journalist and collector, she covers the intersection of art, culture and celebrity. Her work has been featured in media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, Vanity Fair Online, and Artnet News. She owns one cat, a Maine Coon, named Miss Kitty Pretty Girl. Michals also created CatCon, the largest pop culture cat-centric convention in the world in 2015, taking place yearly in Los Angeles, California. Thanks to both of her initiatives over $300K has been raised for cat-related charities and nearly 700 cats have been adopted.

Cat Art Show is produced in association with promoter, producer and curator, Daniel Salin. Widely recognized for his production of Banksy’s 2006 landmark Los Angeles show, “Barely Legal”, Salin was also part of the team behind Mr. Brainwash’s debut, seen in the Academy Award nominated film, Exit Through the Gift Shop. He regularly works with artists like Vhils, D*Face, Antony Micallef, and JR.

MEDIA RELATIONS:
Susan Michals
susan@catartshow.com

2018 Full line up announced!

CAT ART SHOW 3: THE SEQUEL RETURNS AGAIN

WITH SOME SERIOUS CATTITUDE TOWARDS OUR PRESIDENT, DIVERSITY, GENDER, RELIGION, SOCIAL MEDIA, AND SUSHI

(Rose Freymuth-Frazier, Divine Intervention, 2018, oil on linen, Courtesy of the artist and Cat Art Show)

(Rose Freymuth-Frazier, Divine Intervention, 2018, oil on linen,
Courtesy of the artist and Cat Art Show)

Over 140 works by 100 renowned and emerging international artists, including Mark Ryden and Ellen von Unwerth to be showcased during the 10-day exhibition in Los Angeles.

ON VIEW FROM JUNE 14 - 24, 2018
12PM - 5PM Daily
Think Tank Gallery, 939 Maple Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90015

OPENING NIGHT THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2018
VIP Opening: 6–8:30PM
Public Opening: 8:30–11PM
CLOSING PARTY SATURDAY, JUNE 24, 2018
Benefiting Kitten Rescue LA
7–10PM

LOS ANGELES, CA–May 1, 2018. Cat Art Show, the world’s most popular biennial art exhibition dedicated to the feline is back for a third time, opening Thursday, June 14, 2018 at pop-up location, Think Tank Gallery in Downtown Los Angeles.

Cat Art Show 3: The Sequel Returns Again will feature more than 100 globally-recognized and emerging artists, including Lola Gil, Travis Louie, Daniel Maidman, Brandi Milne, Marion Peck, Mick Rock, Edel Rodriguez, Mark Ryden, Devon Shimoyama, Tasya Van Ree, Ellen von Unwerth, and Casey Weldon, among others. From as far afield as Cuba, Japan, Russia, Serbia and the UK, the roster reflects a similarly diverse variety of cat breeds including Maine Coons, Russian Blues, Siamese, Sphynxes, and Tabbies depicted across a range of media including painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, collage and embroidery.

(Annie Montgomerie, Owner, 2018, Don’t Know What Ya Lookin At, 2018, Everybody Wants to Be a…, 2018. All works made of muslin, cotton, silk and wool, with doll abdomen and legs, courtesy of the artist and Cat Art Show)

(Annie Montgomerie, Owner, 2018, Don’t Know What Ya Lookin At, 2018, Everybody Wants to Be a…, 2018. All works made of muslin, cotton, silk and wool, with doll abdomen and legs, courtesy of the artist and Cat Art Show)

As a major international center for contemporary visual culture, and creative home to artists, designers, architects, writers, filmmakers, and musicians, Los Angeles continues to host and celebrate immersive exhibitions that straddle fine art and popular culture to entertain and educate. Cat Art Show 1 and 2 attracted 4,500 visitors (2014) and 7,000 visitors (2016) to the city and more than 9,000 visitors are anticipated this year, spurred by a catatonic social media reach of 8 million artist and fan followers.

Current social and political issues take a central place in the themes for this year’s exhibition with works directly targeting President Trump and pop culture icons such as Kanye West and Taylor Swift, but also touching upon topical issues surrounding identity politics.

American painter Rose Freymuth-Frazier depicts a grandiose Persian furball in classical style defiantly pawing an overturned and prostrate Donald Trump (a best-selling pet doll), wrestled to the ground in the aptly titled Divine Intervention; British artist Annie Montgomerie presents three gender-specific and ethnically diverse sculpted, anthropomorphic doll-like kitties as an ode to childhood memories; Hugo Martinez, who formerly worked in the studio of David LaChapelle, showcases social-media phenomenon Princess Cheeto as delectable sushi-muse in Rollin with my Homies, and the devil’s in the detail in Paul Koudounaris’s Mewcifer, a super cute, not quite-macabre Tabby, inspired in part thanks to the artist’s extraordinarily cooperative muse, a rescue cat named Baba — all continue the legacy of renowned artists, aka “huge cat guys of the art world” Pierre Bonnard, Salvador Dalí, Wassily Kandinsky, Gustav Klimt, Henri Matisse, Georgia O’Keeffe, Pablo Picasso, and of course, Andy Warhol. Among the participating artists, some have never produced a work of a domestic cat prior to the their involvement in Cat Art Show. Shepard Fairey’s first ever domesticated cat work made for the inaugural edition in 2014 was a sure homage to the African-American revolutionary party, The Black Panthers.

“The enigmatic feline has been a source of artistic inspiration for thousands of years,” said Susan Michals, creator and curator of the show. “One moment they can be a best friend, the next, an antagonist. They are the perfect subject matter, and works of art, all by themselves.”

Notable artists who participated in Cat Art Show 2014 and 2016 include Gary Baseman, Guy Denning, FAILE, Britt Ehringer, Tracey Emin, Shepard Fairey, Barry McGee, Norman Reedus and Mark Ryden.

(Paul Koudounaris, Mewcifer, 2018, digital photographic print 1/10, courtesy of the artist and Cat Art Show.)

(Paul Koudounaris, Mewcifer, 2018, digital photographic print 1/10, courtesy of the artist and Cat Art Show.)

Hugo Martinez (“Princess Cheeto”), Rollin with my Homies, 2018, digital photographic print 1/10, courtesy of the artist and Cat Art Show.)

Hugo Martinez (“Princess Cheeto”), Rollin with my Homies, 2018, digital photographic print 1/10, courtesy of the artist and Cat Art Show.)

Every year, Cat Art Show donates a portion of its proceeds to a cat-related organization. Works on view are for sale and a percentage of sales will benefit the Ian Somerhalder Foundation, founded by actors and philanthropists Ian Somerhalder and Nikki Reed to empower, educate and collaborate with people and projects to positively impact the planet and its creatures. Kitten Rescue LA is the beneficiary of the Closing Night event titled The Kitty Cuddle Party, with adoptable kitten onsite, on Saturday, June 23, 2018.

Prices of the works start from $300 to go up to $200,000. For more information on available works, please contact: team@catartshow.com

ABOUT CAT ART SHOW

Curator Susan Michals created Cat Art Show in 2014 to critical and popular acclaim. A journalist and collector, she covers the intersection of art, culture and celebrity. Her work has been featured in media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, Vanity Fair Online, artnet News, The Observer, and Huffington Post. She owns one cat, a Maine Coon, named Miss Kitty Pretty Girl. Michals also created CatCon, the largest pop culture cat-centric convention in the world in 2015, taking place yearly in Pasadena, California. Thanks to both of her initiatives over $250K has been raised for cat-related charities and over 300 cats have been adopted. Due to popular demand, this year’s CatCon convention opening August 4-5, 2018 has already sold out to exhibitors.

Cat Art Show is produced in association with promoter, producer and curator, Daniel Salin. Widely recognized for his production of Banksy’s 2006 landmark Los Angeles show, Barely Legal, Salin was also part of the team behind Mr. Brainwash’s debut, seen in the Academy Award nominated film, Exit Through the Gift Shop. He regularly works with artists like Vhils, D*Face, and JR.

MEDIA RELATIONS

Susan Michals
susan@catartshow.com

                

 

Ian Somerhalder Foundation Chosen as Cat Art Show's Charity Beneficiary

Cat Art Show has chosen The Ian Somerhalder Foundation as our charity beneficiary for 2018. The Foundation works
to empower, educate and collaborate with people and projects to positively impact the planet and its creatures. ISF
delivers unique programs and services and provides public outreach, education, and grants in support of creatures,
environment, youth, and grassroots initiatives.

Ian Somerhalder and Nikki Reed (Photo courtesy Glass Jar Photography and ISF)

Ian Somerhalder and Nikki Reed (Photo courtesy Glass Jar Photography and ISF)