Cat Art

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According to Dutch outdoor sports store Bever Sport’s slogan, “Nobody is an indoor person”, but that’s only because they’ve never met me yet: I am the epithome of an indoor person. I have always been this way, even as a child I thought Outside Playtime was way overrated. Just give me a book and a quiet place to sit and I’m dandy. I do leave the house regularly of course, but presented with the choice between “doing something outside of my house” and “staying at home”, I prefer to stay indoors. Lately though, this had lead to some “I should have gone to that movie/exhibit/whatever”-regret, as I do admit that I gain some new perspective and think up lots of ideas after an Outside World activity. This is why I have decided for 2018 to do at least one non-necessary Outside World activity every month, which I will then chronicle here on Featured Mag.

This month I visited the exhibition “Cat Love – Nine Lives in the Arts” in the Kunsthal in Rotterdam. This exhibit unfortunately has ended, but cat art pictures are coming up, so that will hopefully ease the pain a bit. Upon entering the first room, I saw this portrait titled “His Majesty”, shot by Marie Cécile Thijs in 2011:

 

 

The only thing that could have made this exhibit better was if this gorgeous cat had been there personally – and had decided to come and live with me. But seeing that that was not in the realm of the possible (I’m quite sure this wonderful cat already has a great home), this picture was the best possible opening. There was a lot more to see though:

 

poster cats (for the old national postal service PTT Post)

 

figurative cats (extreme close up of Jean Bedez – Dessin, 2015)

 

abstract cats (David Shrigley – Untitled (lost cat), 2011)

 

light cats (Marie Cécile Thijs – Cat with white collar II, 2011)

 

dark cats (Walasse Ting – Untitled, circa 1990)

 

sought after cats (part of a competition)

 

found cats (winner of the competition)

 

humans slowly morphing into cats (Leonor Fini – The Mutants, 1971)

 

shape shifting cats (Tango, 2015)

 

cats made out of cat stickers (Takako Kimura – Untitled, 2004-2005)

 

and of course activisty cats (Alain Séchas – Red Cat, 1997).

 

For those who weren’t completely out-catted after 5 rooms of cat art, there was a huge indoor playground with cat games, cat videos and other cat related activities, like a cat jungle gym. Since I was both the only person over the age of 11 and the only person not accompanied by children, I decided to not try my luck at the balance beam. During my exit through the giftshop I picked up a cat fridge magnet and the supplement to the anthology of the legendary Dutch zine De Poezenkrant (“The Cat Newspaper”), after which I left the Kunsthal completely cattified. Meow.

Next week I’ll be back with a monthly roundup of things seen, read and listened to. See you on Wednesday!

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2 Responses
  • Anna
    January 31, 2018

    Yess, this makes me want to arts after a long period of not artsing one bit. This was awesome.

    Excellent idea to at least see something every month. Always feel a lot better after a day trip, and even then I’m still an expert in postponing it. Which makes no sense, but… well, you know. I didnt know De Poezenkrant anthology had a supplement. I think I have the anthology (with the tail bookmark) somewhere, so I may need to get the supplement. is it the recent 10 years? Although if I remember correctly there’s only been 2 or 3 poezenkranten since that anthology… heh.

    • LP
      February 1, 2018

      Yesss @ artsing!!!

      Oh, I know, I am the same. And then I either go, and enjoy myself, or miss out on the thing I wanted to do, and feel shitty. Hence the “pressure” put upon me by the blog.

      I didn’t know De Poezenkrant had a supplement either! I have the same one, with the tail, and this is the 2004 – 2014 supplement, NINE issues apparently came out during that time. Which beats my zine production of the last few years. Oh my meow, I’m getting out-productivity-d by De Poezenkrant of all publications! 😀