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)
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)
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.)
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