kat by Kevin Stadler

kat

January 2014

Pa ge s

04 Germma Correll

Takig Cat Art Seriously

08 Meet Choupette, Kitten to Karl Lagerfeld And Fashionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Favorite Feline

Cat Taking 4

Art

“So cat art, in one form or another, has been around as long as cats have—over the centuries, the creatures have been imagined as goddess, hunter, consort and thief ” The title is accurate: Felines and females abound in the work of the French-born, classically inspired, figurative painter, who was a familiar art-world name at the time of his death, at 92, in 2001. In this country, though, he hasn’t had a big show in three decades. So the general public might not be aware that these cats aren’t cute or grumpy at all. Rather they are sinister voyeurs of pensive adolescent girls, rendered in enigmatic and erotically charged poses. Suggestive and disturbing, to our contemporary sensibility they may well seem even more provocative than they did the last time the Met did a big Balthus show, in 1984. To acknowledge that some viewers might find some content offensive, the museum added a subtitle: “Paintings and Provocations.” Focusing on work from the mid-’30s to the ’50s, the exhibition coincides with the publication by Rizzoli of Balthus and Cats, which traces the cat motif throughout the artist’s career. The Met will show–for the first time in public–the charming ink drawings Balthus made at the age of 11 for Mitsou, his story about a stray tomcat; the book was published in 1921 by Rainer Maria Rilke, a close family friend. Later Balthus began to pair these felines with tweens or teens poised in what curator Sabine Rewald describes as “self-absorbed languor,” draped over chairs, lost in a dream state, unself-consciously (or not) lifting their skirts to reveal their white panties. His models grew up and moved on, but Balthus stayed fixated on his nymphets. The cats beside them—sometimes rubbing suggestively, sometimes lapping at milk, sometimes staring amused (the way the models never do) at the viewer–play off the idea of budding female sexuality. Even more so, they act as stand-ins for the artist himself.

Seriously 5

The Met show will make two catthemed museum offerings in New York this season: It opens on the tails of the Brooklyn Museum’s inauguration of “Divine Felines: Cats of Ancient Egypt,” a long-term installation exploring the role of cats, lions, and other feline creatures in Egyptian society, religion, and everyday life. So cat art, in one form or another, has been around as long as cats have—over the centuries, the creatures have been imagined as goddess, hunter, consort and thief, as Sarah Hanson wrote in our pages in 2007, when Abrams brought out a massive cat-art tome. In recent years, especially with the rise of internet cat memes, the kitty has become associated with kitsch.

While the two New York museums were planning their cat-art history, two local alternative spaces were pushing cats into the realm of performance and social practice. Last spring Flux Factory in Long Island City staged Kitty City, an environment created by artists, kids, and city planners that culminated in a kitty adoption drive. For various days during the run of the show (which ends July 27), on a playground designed by architects Gia Wolff and Freecell, cats from Social Tees Animal Rescue adoption—“purr-formers,” in Lieberman lingo—will lounge, play, and hopefully find permanent homes.

In David Humphrey’s show at Fredericks & Freiser last year, the rambunctious kitty was getting out of control. Or maybe the cat’s just learning to paint. And in a work by Mattia Biagi at Anna Kustera, Olympia’s cat jumped out of the picture and sped around the gallery on a Roomba to display art works on November.

“Cats rule the internet, but they are really underdogs in the city shelters,” says Lieberman, describing the artistic ambience as a strategy to “show strays as the gorgeous creatures that they are.” Meanwhile, another feline with a big role in art history is basking in the spotlight at the Ducal Palace in Venice, where Manet’s Olympia shares a wall with her predecessor and inspiration, Titian’s Venus of Urbino. The feline consort to Manet’s courtesan, sinister and suggestive, started a meme of its own back in the day (that continues to the present). While the two New York museums were planning their cat-art history, two local alternative spaces were pushing cats into the realm of performance and social practice. Last spring Flux Factory in Long Island City staged Kitty City, an environment created by artists, kids, and city planners that culminated in a kitty adoption drive. Suggestive and disturbing, to our contemporary sensibility they may well seem even more provocative than they did the last time the Met did a big Balthus show, in 1984. To acknowledge that some viewers might find some content offensive, the museum added a subtitle: “Paintings and Provocations.” And in a work by Mattia Biagi at Anna Kustera, Olympia’s cat jumped out of the picture and sped around the gallery on a Roomba.

Gemma Correll

In her years of doodling Gemma has produced T-shirts, badges, prints, cards, plates, mirrors…you name it! She’s a real life Penny Crayon. Such trinkets can be found in her online shop as well as her craft concession Cherry Cherry, in Norwich.

Armed with her favourite pen she tells us about her current exhibition at The Soup Gallery in Turo and what’s next in her pencil shaded world.

“Don’t worry too much about being neat and tidy, that’s the point of a doodle”

How did you make art your thing? I’ve wanted to be an illustrator since I was a little girl. I used to use old notebooks to make illustrated storybooks for my friends and also publish a comic called “The Chatterbox” at primary school. I would spend my pocket money on penny sweets and sellotape one to the front cover as a free gift. After that I started to write and illustrate a children’s page in my parents’ church’s newsletter. I did that for 10 years. I studied Graphic Design and specialised in Illustration – I had great tutors and was very lucky to get some work straight after graduation. I worked part/full time jobs for a while, doing my illustration work in the evenings, but now I’m a full time illustrator, which is great! What inspires you to draw? Mostly people I see, animals, things I hear. I’m the girl quietly sitting in the corner with a coffee and a sketchbook. And yes, I’m probably drawing you, especially if you have a comical hairstyle/ pet/accent. Do you get nervous about big exhibitions? Yes! Very, very nervous. I can be very self-critical when it comes to my work so an exhibition multiplies that by about a thousand. Tell us a bit about your new exhibition at The Soup Gallery? The owner, Mark, kindly offered me the space on the top floor (the bottom floor is a shop, sell ing all kinds of lovely things, like Lazy Oaf tees and David Shrigley cards) and the freedom to draw on the walls, and pretty much do whatever I wanted. So I drew on the walls and ate a lot of pick n’ mix.

Are there ever any messages behind any of your illustrations? Without getting too psychoanalytical, there are definitely echoes of my life – growing up – feeling like a misfit, which is an obvious theme. I seem to have an empathy with people and animals that are a bit, let’s say “different” and I think this is often reflected in my work. But it’s not a sad thing, it’s a kind of celebration of being unique. If you could have your work anywhere, where would it be? Hmm, I would like to do the posters for one of Michel Gondry’s films or something for The Flight of The Conchords or Rilo Kiley. And I’d love to do a mural on a wall in the Mission district in San Francisco. I also also love it to be in anywhere in Europe

How did it come about? I have an Etsy shop (gemmabear.etsy.com) from which I sell my wares, I produce my own cards, zines, prints etc. Mark ordered a print set for his lovely girlfriend Becky and emailed me to say thank you and offer me the chance to exhibit at the gallery. You run a shop called Cherry, Cherry, it looks amazing. Tell us a bit about what makes it tick? I’ve been doing craft fairs for quite a while now and there’s a brilliant one that has been running in Norwich for just over a year now called Clutter City. My friend Kate and I noticed that we were doing pretty well for ourselves at these fairs and that there were loads of other fantastic stalls and also, that there was a complete lack of shops selling that kind of “contemporary craft” in Norwich. There was nowhere to buy zines, handmade jewellery (or at least, nice, non-chintzy handmade jewellery) or in fact, anything made by young craftspeople. There’s a lot of talent in Norwich so we’ve got a lot of local artists’ products as well as craftsters from around the country and abroad. You draw lots of cats and dogs, is there a particular cat/dog in mind as your inspiration? The cats are usually based on my late cat Oliver. I loved him dearly and was so upset when he died that I wrote a book about it. I’m hoping to publish that someday soon…when I find the time. The dogs are sometimes based on my parent’s Labradors and otherwise based on dogs that I’ve seen out and about. The Pugs that I draw are kind of projections of the Pugs that I, hope to own.

What advice would you give to someone who wants the doodles in their notebook to be more than just doodles? Don’t worry too much about being neat and tidy, that’s the point of a doodle. Relax and draw whatever comes into your head.

You draw lots of cats and dogs, is there a particular cat/dog in mind as your inspiration? The cats are usually based on my late cat Oliver. I loved him dearly and was so upset when he died that I wrote a book about it. I’m hoping to publish that someday soon…when I find the time. The dogs are sometimes based on my parent’s Labradors and otherwise based on dogs that I’ve seen out and about. The Pugs that I draw are kind of projections of the Pugs that I, one day, hope to own.

What’s next? Apart from getting a pug, I’m aiming to go and live in the US for a while next year. In the more immediate future, I’m working on a tea towel for the superace company “To Dry For” and a couple of editorial commissions. I’m taking part in Art Trek 6 in Antwerp, Belgium at the end of this month with some brilliant artists like Marcus Oakley and Ephameron, which I’m really excited about. In the very, very immediate future, I’m about to make a coffee and draw a French Bulldog.

FELD 12

LAGERF

FELD

KARL

KARL Karl Lagerfeld is a German fashion designer, artist and photographer based in Paris. He is the head designer and creative director for the fashion house Chanel as well as the Italian house Fendi, in addition to having his own label fashion house Lagerfeld defends the fur industry and the use of fur in fashion, although he himself doesn’t wear fur and hardly eats meat. In a BBC interview in 2009 he claimed that hunters “make a living having learnt nothing else than hunting, killing those beasts who would kill us if they could”, and maintained that “in a meat-eating world, wearing leather for shoes and clothes and even handbags, the discussion of fur is childish.” Spokespersons for PETA called Lagerfeld “a fashion dinosaur who is as out of step as his furs are out of style”,[30] and “particularly delusional with his kill-or-be-killed mentality. When was the last time a person’s life was threatened by a mink or rabbit?”

KRISTINA O’NEILL: I’m sorry to hear that Choupette was sick last night. KARL LAGERFELD: Yes, but she is better. She had eaten something she wasn’t supposed to eat. They had changed her food because she’s grown-up now, and the food was not right yet. So I had the doctor come in the middle of the night. KO: Does she have a favorite person besides you? KL: I hope not! But, yes, the two maids, especially one called Françoise. They spend hours together and do her beauty jobs, her hair, and all those things, and they have moments of tenderness with her. They have to write in the book exactly what they’re doing. Because there’s a diary, I know everything. KO: Does she get brushed a lot? KL: Yes, she has to. You know, she has long white hair. Two times a day KO: Tell me about her eating habits. KL: She goes in the kitchen and sits in front of the food. She doesn’t like to eat on the floor, so I have to put the food on the table. Her dishes are by Goyard. She has one for water, one for her little croquette, and one for her pâté. You have to serve everything, and she makes a choice.

“No, no, no—everything is done with the eyes. She knows exactly what she wants”

KO: I’m glad she has 24-hour medical attention. KL: The doctor had never seen a cat with so many people taking care of her. You know, she has two maids, and the driver takes care of her too. KO: Are you surprised by how famous she’s become? KL: Unbelievable, no? KO: Are you sure she doesn’t have an attitude? KL: She has an attitude like a princess. KO: Does she meow a lot, or is she a purrer? KL: Yes, the doctor does her manicure. She hates when we do it ourselves. The only time she makes a scandal is then. KO: How much time a day does she spend sleeping? KL: Quite a lot. I don’t know; I’m not there all the time. But when I’m working, she sits next to me. And when I want to write letters, she sits on the papers because she doesn’t want me to write letters. KO: She wants attention! KL: Exactly.

KO: Does she have a favorite person besides you? KL: I hope not! But, yes, the two maids, especially one called Françoise. They spend hours together and do her beauty jobs, her hair, and all those things, and they have moments of tenderness with her. They have to write in the book exactly what they’re doing. Because there’s a diary, I know everything. KO: Has she ever used Klorane hair powder like you? KL: No, never. That’s not necessary. Anyway, everything with a spray she hates. Room spray or perfumes—she hates it!

KO: Are they all Chanel? KL: No, her favorite one is a huge Colette shopping bag that’s under the kitchen table. She spends hours in there and brings all her toys in there. And when I’m in bed, sometimes she comes and brings all her toys in my bed. KO: She must have met a lot of people in the fashion industry by now. KL: Yes, everybody wants her, but I say no! She’s really a stunning beauty. Her eyes are blue, blue, blue, blue, blue. And also her movement is so beautiful.

We Asked Artists. What time do you work?

Lady Gentleman

I’m doing it

I’m trying

Nope

Morning

Afternoon

Night

We asked about thier cats. What time are they most active?

Female Male

Game Time

Leave me alone

Zzz

Morning

Afternoon

Night