Group Show

Group Art Exhibit at AHA Fine Art 56 Bogart St., Suite 109, Brooklyn NY 11206

From the venerated felines of ancient Egypt to the community supported street cats of Istanbul, cats have occupied a space near and dear to humans throughout history. Evidence of our preoccupation with these curious companions can be found across all genres: theatre (CATS), literary (Puss ‘n’ Boots), music (Stray Cats), and – more recently – in social media’s ubiquitous cat memes.

Cat-inspired colloquialisms abound: copycat, cool cat, being cat-called, cat got your tongue, like herding cats, curiosity killed the cat. Culturally, the term “Cat Lady” is a derogatory term reserved for crazy, cat-hoarding spinsters while the label “Cat Daddy” refers to a mature, but eminently cool, man.

Associated with the afterlife, the supernatural, and the sinister, cats are often cast in the role of the villain; Cat Woman in the Batman series, and cats representing Germans in Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel holocaust memoir, MAUS.

What is it about these nocturnal familiars that fascinates us? Certainly their sassy, independent, and inquisitive demeanor is to be admired – even as their unpredictable, aloof, and self-serving mood swings can frustrate. Concurrently revered and reviled, felines have been immortalized in artworks by the likes of Edouard Manet, Mary Cassatt, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Frida Kahlo, Walker Evans, and Mary Fedden.