Painting Cats

I guess you'd have to ask the cat.

Have you ever seen a cat paint? Me neither. Not in person anyway. I did see it on this video on the website Why Cats Paint, a documentary being produced by the Museum of Non-Primate Art. The museum is really just a research institution set up by some nutty Brit who was mad that chimps got all the attention. They also seem to think that moles are conveying some aesthetic purpose to tunneling and that there is some creative expression involved in bird droppings (so apparently when a bird shits on you it is an artistic statement!). The video looks like it could be faked with a lot of close ups á la Toonces but they seem very serious about it. I can’t imagine it is a very widespread phenomenon or wouldn’t we have heard a ton about it? The painting elephant at the Calgary Zoo seems to get A LOT of attention and you can even buy prints of her paintings. I don’t exactly think it is fake but I am not sure of it’s significance. OK, so they are doing it but is it any good? Is it just another way of anthropomorphizing our pets? I remain unconvinced but will be watching my dog around the art supplies.

On another note, I might prefer painting cats to cats that paint. Why would anybody do this? Besides it’s obvious hilarity. I have included my favorites in the gallery below. Enjoy!

March 18, 2009. Tags: animals, art, birds, Calgary, cats, chimps, dogs, elephants, messy, moles, museum, painting, Toonces, weird, zoo. Art and design.