When Jon Feinstein, co-founder of Humble Arts Foundation, sat down to name his cat-themed photography show, a few titles sprung to mind. "I Got 99 Cat Photos and a Bitch Ain’t One"? "These Cat Photos Will Blow Your Mind and You’ll Never Guess What Happened Next…”? “Henri Kittier Bresson, and the Canon of the Photo Meows”?
Sadly, he went with a milder, less punny title -- "New Cats in Art Photography" -- but thankfully, the carefully curated selection of cat photos didn't suffer. With over 100 images, imagined by some of our favorite contemporary photographers, the digital exhibition is an homage to the internet age's obsession with all things feline. No pretension. Just cats.
Jamie Campbell, "Saddest Kitten," 2012
Given the art world's penchant for sticking its nose up at low brow trends beloved by internet plebeians everywhere, Feinstein's project is pretty spectacular. "New Cats" shows off the work of artists like Jill Greenberg, Amy Stein and Madoka Hasegawa, and by giving the fur balls center frame for just a moment, Feinstein hopes to redirect admirers to the photographers' non-cat specific portraits. We admire the philosophy: you come for the scintillating cat photos, stay for the genuinely intriguing aesthetics.
"Why do we love cats? Why are they one of the most viral entities known to post Generation X’ers and Millennials? Why are feline musings simultaneously click-bait dreams and equally one of the largest causes of social media animosity and 'de-friending?'" the exhibition description muses. "This exhibition won’t answer any of those questions. Nor will it project any theories on the impact of cats in our rapidly shifting contemporary photographic landscape, but it will give you a glimpse into how cats make their way into the work some of today’s most challenging (and diverse) photographers."
Behold, a bunch of f*cking delightful cat photos. All the artists' names are linked, so you can head to their websites to see, you know, the non-cat stuff too.
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