Fine Art Felines – Photos from Cat Art Show LA 2

Cat Art Show LA 2: The Sequel came to Los Angeles this past weekend, proving the city’s love for all art–highbrow, lowbrow, and everything in between.  Invited artists included both established names and some more surprising personalities (Daryl from Walking Dead?), with all works centered around one theme: cats. Cats. And More Cats. 

What a time to be alive. A time where cats dominate the interwebs, and the cat-cult has spilled out into RL as not one, but two cat-themed art openings, both wildly successful. This year’s iteration materialized at Think Tank Gallery, a citywide favorite venue for its galleries intersecting popular and high-concept art. Even though it seems like there’s a talent-packed gallery opening every weekend in the city, Cat Art Show LA 2 cuts deep into popular taste, for obvious reasons. The appeal isn’t hard to understand: take a ludicrous visual theme, pour an incommensurate amount of professional talent into it, and voila! Instant scene, both digitally and physically.

Among the curated artists were illustration giants like Luke Chueh, fashion representatives like Tokidoki, renowned tattoo artist Kat Von D, and a smattering of names from left field. Yes, I’m talking about Norman Reedus, aka Daryl Dixon of Walking Dead-fame; apparently, when Daryl’s not tracking zombies through yards of thick foliage, he’s taking subtly surreal photographs. Cat Art Show LA 2 made an effort to include voices from all walks of artistic life, so as to capture the essence of ‘cat-ness’ from all possible angles, and they succeeded wildly.

The pieces at Cat Art Show LA 2 ranged from faux-fine art, to dynamic graphite sketches, photography, sculpture, illustration, and beyond. The effect was immersive, a glimpse into a parallel universe wherein the lifeform of Earth was feline-kind.

The first 2014 show attracted thousands of visitors, and this year’s iteration saw a packed gallery-space every single day of its too-short run, from March 24-27. Cat Art Show LA and its sequel were masterminded by journalist Susan Michals, also the founder of CatCon, because of course she is. In the gallery’s description, she makes an apt observation about the historical ubiquity of the cat:

“Cats have been part of our lives for thousands of years. The Egyptians frequently aligned them with the gods and artists like Picasso created masterpieces centered around cats. Now people post them on Instagram and artists interpret them.”

Here’s hoping for a threequel.