Still Life with Hairballs
June 25, 2014 6:34 AM   Subscribe

Fat Cat Art: Artist Svetlana Petrova inserts her kitty Zarathustra into famous paintings.
posted by Metroid Baby (10 comments total) 14 users marked this as a favorite
 
I wonder if this work is perhaps a bit too 'high concept' and cerebral to connect with the general public.
posted by Flashman at 7:06 AM on June 25, 2014 [2 favorites]


How to turn a van Dyck into a Snyders.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 7:37 AM on June 25, 2014


I now have that delightful portrait of the unknown woman in Russian costume and her cat in marching cone-of-shame as my lock screen. I smile every time I see it.

This works best in rich oil paintings, where the tone of the photo can be matched more closely. He looks out of place in some of the other works.
posted by jb at 7:41 AM on June 25, 2014 [1 favorite]


This is awesome. Thanks for posting.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 8:28 AM on June 25, 2014


During a lull in work I toyed with a similar idea, only instead of a picture of a real cat, I inserted cats in several paintings trying to ape the same painting styles, as if the cats had always been a part of the original work. A sort of sweet vandalism. I pitched the idea of a series of pieces in this vein at work (one of their social media clients is a cat food company), along with several samples and links to similar ideas, like Petrova's site and the work of Susan Herbert.

It was quickly shot down because no one was really sure of the legality of it (particularly with more recent paintings): in fact, the specific execution of "trying to pass off" the new additions as part of the original painting, however jokingly, seemed to be the most problematic, as some laws were very specific about causing confusion between the original and the derivative work. In light of this, both Herbert's and Petrova's styles make more sense.
posted by infinitelives at 8:39 AM on June 25, 2014 [2 favorites]


Those are awesome, infinitelives!
posted by agatha_magatha at 9:17 AM on June 25, 2014 [1 favorite]


Thank you kindly agatha_magatha, I'm happy you liked them... I might set up something on my own later on. It's a good art exercise at the very least.
posted by infinitelives at 9:47 AM on June 25, 2014


Titian, Venus of Urbino, Happily ever after is The. Best.
posted by BlueHorse at 11:52 AM on June 25, 2014


Zarathustra is such a great fucking name for a cat.
posted by NoraReed at 4:25 PM on June 25, 2014


Let's see how long it takes coworkers to comment on this screensaver...
posted by maryr at 12:29 PM on June 26, 2014


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