Art is, by definition, hard to define even when labeled as such.
Case in point: My cat after rolling around in Hailey’s sticker collection.
But is it Art? (No. It’s Hunter S. Thomcat.)
225 thoughts on “But is it Art? (No. It’s Hunter S. Thomcat.)”
Read comments below or add one.
Leave a Reply
MY BOOKS:
Subscribe to the bloggess, y'all.
Archives
MY INSTAGRAM
This month’s book club picks are fire. For @fantasticstrangelings we have Lucky Red by @claudia.cravens and for @nightmaresfromnowhere we’re sending you Dead Eleven by @jimmyjulianobooks
Advice from Dorothy Barker: Go outside and find the sunset. Touch the grass. Bark at squirrels. Pee aggressively while staring at the neighbors. Eat a bug. The usual.
Instagram makes suggested reels based on old content and I assume most people have beautiful vacation photos or wedding compilations, but this is what they suggested for me.
Sitting in ihop after graduation and “who’s gonna drive you home” comes over the sound system and now I’m lightly weeping into my pancakes but I’M FINE.
ALL THE COOL KIDS ADVERTISE HERE:
I fucking love these people & not just because they support my wine-slushee habit:
Looks like ART to me.
I actually do kind of want to frame this and hang it on a wall.
But no, it’s not art.
It is art… freakish and pissed off art.
Wait, are you having chest pains? Nausea? Dizziness? Because I think you’re having an arty cat.
This is my definition of Art:
If you can see it, feel it, and you took the time to bring it in to being, I call it art.
Unless it was a natural body function.
The look on your cat’s face says, “Yes, this is art. Very transgressive art.”
You can tell it’s art because it has a label on it that says “Art”. It would be illegal to label something with the wrong word.
I have seen modern art which was much less artistic than your cat.
Errrrrr…..so..
okay…why does he look stoned, and or frightened?
“The stickers represent the labels society imposes on the individual. The cat… the cat’s just a cat.”
I say art. He placed those on himself without help.
The subject matter is definitely evincing emotion(s). These are just some of the things this piece says to me: WHY?; I will kill you in your sleep; and Revenge WILL be mine.
If I were you, I’d print and frame this and hang it up! In fact, I kind of want to. It’s the best art I’ve seen in awhile.
Your cat is a freak. A freak who knows his art though. He posed himself to look like a Picasso. That is talent.
Hmm…”is it art?”. I’m going with yes. Yes, it is.
“Ack! I have Art on my face! Get it off!”
Let him loose in a museum and see what people say.
He looks so unimpressed. But tell him art is subjective and it’s all valid. Wear oven mitts when you help him tidy himself up.
The colours and perspective are very interesting. See how I spelled ‘colours’? Fucking legit.
That’s the artiest art that ever arted.
That is art with an attitude.
yes 100% yes.
I want a magnet of it to put that art on my fridge
That cat is pretetentious, and needs to quit succumbing to labels.
As Bill Maher might say, “New Rule: if you have to tell someone it’s art, IT ISN’T.”
So you are saying that the cat did this to himself…and not you to him?
Performance art? Hunter S. Thomcat’s take on the consequences of labeling oneself?
Cat + Art = Cart
Cart (insert ‘does not equal’ sign) Art
Can’t argue math. (That being said, I do believe art is in the eye of the beholder because it’s the only way I can justify trying to sell my impromptu drawings as art for $.50 so I can buy a soda at work).
This needs to be in a gallery somewhere.
Bwahaha. Your posts make me miss having a cat around, kinda. Also, you should submit this photo to http://stuffonmycat.com/
That is definitely art, even if it is a little abstract.
maybe he wants to be named Art.
You could sell that masterpiece for a couple million dollars… and then share with all of your readers.
YES!!!
Of course it’s art! It’s a masterpiece 🙂
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The same goes for art.
Yes. Yes it is art.
“I don’t know what art is but I know it when I see it.”
I think that was Voltaire. Or Jesse Helms.
But hey, Hunter looks to be quite cutting edge. You should book him in some galleries.
His face is genius.
Clearly it is performance art–a critique on the modern norton that anything can count as “art”. So meta, so bold. A masterpiece, really.
Art is in the eye of the beholder…I would love to have this picture in my home 🙂
It’s only art because of the face. That is what makes it art.
HayleyGHoover once made a nine minute video of herself eating a burrito. She called that art, thus, so is this.
That’s a lotta Art! He certainly has grown into his name!
He looks weirdly deconstructed, which I’m pretty sure counts as art. If only he’d rolled onto the letter F.
Anonymous just made me laugh out loud.
C L E A R L Y, those are name tags, which is brilliant because cats never seem to know their names when you call them and Art has found a way never to forget. Or you could go with Tra, since upside down, it’s street like that…..
Ooooh, he’s getting to be a big boy. Yes he is. Oh yes he is. Wook at hims chubby wittle cheeks.
It’s ART to you, and that’s what counts.
Such angry art lol.
Clearly it’s a critique of the futility of humanity’s desire to both exist within and stand apart from the concept of “labels.” I would label it art.
If it looks like art… walks like art… meows like art… it’s art. 🙂
Performance art gone awry from the look on HST’s face.
I second the request for a magnet.
It has that certain je ne sais croi.
Performance art at it’s finest!
Totally. It’s like an Art at-cat
I was filing some paperwork in my office and noticed some areas where the paper was bitten off. My cat (who looks like yours) licks the glue of envelopes, and lays on every single thing in the house and in fact is blocking my moniter with his body while I type this. He’s SO helpful!
It looks like he is paying homage to Marcel Duchamp and the dadaists : D. Art is in the selection or something to that effect.
As they say, art is in the eye of the beholder and by the looks of it? Art is in HST’s eye
The smallest feline is a masterpiece.
– Leonardo da Vinci
So, yes, art. Even without the label.
His face is the best part of the whole picture
I had an art history teacher in college who would always say “art is whatever you think it is.” Hunter S Tomcat must think he is art.
Eye of the beholder, Jenny.
Yes that is definitely art.
he’s giving you the stink eye
Lulu Comment 4 wins
Looks like art to me! Heaven knows most pinterest users find cats in odd positions to be art!
FACE!!! yes, I third the refrigerator magnet. please.
There’s art written all over him!
The look on his face that says “I really don’t understand what the fuck is happening to me right now” – that’s definitely ART.
The cat is not art, but your photograph, which has artfully captured the essence of cat, is worthy of acclaim.
Stop pretending, Art is hard.
I will always adore you for introducing me to Amanda Palmer, and Copernicus the homicidal monkey, Beyonce the big metal chicken…. mmm I think I’ve made some sort of point. LOL
You do know there’s a website called Stuffonmycat.com where people torment their cats by um…putting stuff on them. I would never do that to my cat. He’d probably do something hideous to me in revenge as I was sleeping. Like poop in my ear.
It’s performance art. Look at that face.
Love your cat. She is a piece of iconic art in her own right!!
The best part is his face. He looks irritated like ” really? you grabbed the camera instead of helping..not cool.”
It’s a performance piece. Clearly you don’t understand art.
Hilarious art. I’ll give you a batch of chocolate chip cookies if you try to frame him.
My wife, an art major, once tried to explain to me what makes it art, but as far as I know, I just like it.
Moar cat art for the win.
It begs the question. 🙂
Very modern. I like it.
So cute! He’s looking a little chunky. :]
I think he is going to get a few calls from agents and sponsors to get him an endorsement deal. I see it now: Hunter S. Thomcat says go to museums!
You have the COOLEST, AWESOMEST cat in this whole universe!!! As cool as the cat in The Cat From Outer Space!!!!
This is my favorite thing on the Internet today.
Bad angle. Hunter looks like he ate Hunter.
Sometimes I feel like art is smacking me in the face, too.
my first paper in college was an essay on “what is art?” and I believe every single one of us freshmen started the paper by using webster’s definition and “expanding” it. As I recall that was my first college F.
The cat is not art but the photo of the cat is art.
Most awesome cat facial expression ever. I need this art for my wall.
HIS FACE!!!! His face is definitely the funniest part. He looks so disgruntled.
Art is art if you say it is.
Art is open to interpretation – I vote YES. 🙂
This is better than 3 basketballs floating in a fish tank selling for $500,000. I bid a million.
Jesus H. Christ was that cat in the pills again?
Think of it as performance art.
Dat face!
Ceci n’est pas un chat.
That is fucking amazing art.
Le chat brun, en colère…
Thank god for those labels on that cat! Otherwise I wouldn’t have known this was art.
Please please have this a print. My kitties would love to have this hanging in their area. It would look great over their new cat play tower. Even cats need decor.
Well of course it’s art!?!?!
Just because he’s been in your meds again doesn’t make it any less so.
“Help Mom save me!” He is too cute….art indeed 🙂
It’s official. He is the essence of art.
It’s art if someone calls it art, and many people already have. Also, awesome photograph. Crazy time is always the best.
A Picasso or a Garfunkle? No matter, Art any which way you name it.
Made me giggle.
Does that come in a 52×60??
He is only telling you it is art because he got caught. Just seconds before he was desperately trying to get it off his face, then you walked in and he was all, “Hey. What? No this is totally intentional. It is ART. You don’t understand it so you judge me.”
Anybody else having that problem where a word doesn’t even sound like a real word anymore? That’s where I’m at. Art. Art. Art.
I feel like a seal.
Kayleigh (#27)
Fur + Art = Fart
Now we know this IS art because it’s artsy fartsy! (Yay math!)
It’s clearly a piece of meta-textual performance art commenting on the arbitrary labeling (and valuation) of modern “pop” art. You can tell because Hunter S. Thomcat has the “WTF is this nonsense?” expression so commonly seen on people experiencing both pop art and the accompanying price tag for the first time.
LOVE!
Ceci n’est pas un chat. -Magritte
Oh…it’s most definitely art.
I only want to know when this will be available in your webshop
http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3946289812089685956&postID=7067843851970062374&isPopup=true
it definitely is art!! in another news,you are worth embarrassing grades as well!! 😀
I only want to know when this will be available on your webshop.
Looks like Art cubed that would seem it would be cubism so my vote is yes, technically art.
Please make this a print and sell it in your store thingy. I would buy the crap outta that art.
I think its Art because Hunter S Thomcat resents that you’d have to label him as Art for him to be considered Art and that’s kind of like a rebellion…an artful rebellion…:D
Art is in the eye of the beholder.
Art should be beautifully incomprehensible. “I only understand what the most banal of artists is trying to tell me,” yada yada.
As this photograph makes no sense to me whatsoever…you’ve got yourself some high quality art here, girl!
I didn’t realize you were so artistic! Have you ever considered doing one of those gallery-things? Victor would have to get you a few more cats, but it could be cool.
Also, you would need to post warnings outside your gallery:
“WARNING: If you are allergic to real art in various forms, do not enter!*
“*may contain cats”
I’d recently been brainstorming a whole line of Lego sets yet to be released, ( as a mother of three boys, life often revolves around Legos)- my favorite idea is a Bloggess set complete with taxidermy and removeable curlers- now it also comes with Art Cat!
If you took it with a large format camera, or at least a medium format camera, and developed a type C print yourself I’m sure you could exhibit it as high art 😉
Certainly Artful.
I have a rule (which I stole from the Red Green show): If I can do it, it’s not art.
It’s cat art!
Thank you, thank you for letting this be the first thing I saw when I woke up cranky today. Like the other commenters, I want to print and frame this and put it somewhere so that I see it every day. This art is priceless.
Xoxo. Stephanie
When did he get so big? At least he is still causing trouble…. er… making art. Same thing.
I had to download this. It absolutely needs to be framed and hanging on my wall!
HST! Of course it’s art. It’s a beautiful, thank you for the morning giggle work of art. I would display it. Thank you for all that you write and all of the moments you share. You are priceless.
Art is in the eye of the beholder. And my accountant. And the guy who used to live next to my parents. And a nickname for one half of Simon and Garfunkel.
I think your picture of it is art. 🙂
Right. I’m sure he was rolling around in it. It did not happen to land on his face by a completely fortuitous application to the face by an innocent human who just *happened* to be passing by. It was completely accidental.
Not judging you. I also happen to love torturing my cat. Especially when she forgets she loves cuddling and I remind her by trapping her under the covers with me.
Oh, it’s definitely art. In fact, I’m fairly certain you could sell that. For a lot of money. Fairly quickly.
Why is his head so little and his body so big?
I say it’s art is someone says it’s art, so it must be art since I just said it was art.
Looks to me like a case of catnip overdose…
Obviously this is a sign that your cat is the Mona Lisa of cat’s. He was meant to be studied and cherished by leagues of scholarly cat ladies.
He hath labeled himself Art. Suddenly he is more valuable.
“What is art? Art is a window washer.” Anybody who lived in Madison, WI in the 80’s will know that one.
Poor baby.
Yes…it is art – but uncomfortable art….
so that means it’s cutting edge – right?
I just think he wants to be renamed.
Could Hunter be lobbying for a name change?
Yes, it is definitely art! Performance art, at least. i love it!
Ouch…how did the removal process go? Geez, leave it to me to think about that instead of the aesthetic value of the scene. 😉
You should definitely put that on a t-shirt! LOL
Hunter S. Tomcat is quoting Amanda Palmer: “Stop Pretending Art is Hard!”
that is awesome!
My art professors have always defined art as anything using one of the senses that elicits and emotional response, whether it be good or bad, that is not a natural function of the body. By this definition, because it makes me feel happy seeing this picture of Hunter S. Thomcat covered in stickers and looking disgruntled, I would call this art.
The look on his face is all “I regret nothing.” I am guessing he changed his opinion when you had to yank those off, though. But I heard in order to create meaningful art, you must suffer for it.
This could be considered art! It is definitely cute enough. I would hang it on my wall.
Art is his party nametag alias.
You: Weren’t you the cat that threw up the hairball in the Henderson’s punch bowl at last year’s NYE party?
HST: No. That was Art. Art can’t hold his licker. or his liquor. He’s an embarrassment to cats.
Also, you now need to meet people named Henderson.
HST is just so adorable! Of course, I may be biased because he looks just like my Jack: orange on orange with big orange eyes. As I often say, “Every home should have an orange cat, and every orange cat should have a home.”
His “art” is much better than the stuff I’ve been creating lately. I wish I would have thought of sticking art stickers all over myself. I’m so bummed!
All these comments and no one has noticed that Hunter appears to be missing an ear? It’s a performance piece channeling Van Gogh, Picasso, Warhol and of course, Lautrec.
Why does art always judge me? And get mad when I make it wear stilts?
I once saw an exhibit at a world renowned art gallery that included a dirty fish tank with a basketball floating in it. If that’s art, Hunter S Thomcat is a masterpiece!
if the internet says it’s art,cause the internet can’t say anything that isn’t true. the internet says that….ha ha
Maybe the cat is suffering an identity crisis and thinks his name is Art!
he looks the way I feel when confronted with most conceptual art.
I’m pretty sure it’s art. I mean, says so right there. “Art.” I like things that tell me what they are.
Cats are the strangest people.
Dude, get that Cat to MoMA! You could make a fortune!
I think the photo could easily be called art.
Maybe he’s trying to tell you that he wants to change his name to Art and get a black beret to go with his new persona.
Yup that’s art right there
Art is in the eye of the beholder…”Behold, it’s Hunter S. Thomc(art)!”
This looks better than most art I’ve seen. I once saw a toilet on a platform that someone claimed was a dippy representation of simplicity or some horseshit. Bollocks, it was a toilet on a piece of plywood. At least Hunter S. Thomcat put some effort into it.
it’s modern.
I’d always heard the composition of cat was:
matter + antimatter = it doesn’t matter
But as an art major……..I say art. Cats with ANYTHING stuck to them is hilarious to me. Try tape on their feet. Fun-E.
Jason
Jenny – WTF are you feeding that cat? LOL He’s getting MIGHTY fluffy.
It has to be art, *it says so right on it*.
Ha, ha. Definitely art. When our cat gets a sticker stuck to him, there’s no way I could catch a picture of him; he becomes a grey tornado until the sticker falls off or is snatched away.
Art is in the eyes of the beholder… Or some shit like that. I hope you pointed and yelled “ART!” at the top of your lungs. Because it just looks like it needs to be yelled.
Hugs!
Valerie
Yes it is art.
I don’t know why HST feels the need to label himself… repeatedly…
I think you know what Amanda Palmer’s answer would be…
I think you know what Amanda Palmer’s answer would be…
1) Yes it is art. In fact, I would call it Performance Art.
2) THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE LAUGH!! I NEEDED IT RIGHT NOW!!!
Hunter S Thomcat is a natural clown — which as you must know not all cats have that talent. I love him. Our kitty passed away last summer and I miss her antics like crazy- so Thanks for the Fix Jenny! And Thank Hunter too please 🙂
It is art if the cat says its art, and clearly that is the implication. He can’t speak, so he has made his motives clear.
And the award for the worst stalker EVER goes to ME!! How did I miss this post? And in answer to your question, No. It isn’t art. For that, he needs to be chopped in half and floating in a tank of formaldehyde…Or laying on an unmade bed…
It must be one of those performance art pieces that makes you stop and think because of the surreal nature of it.
But I think it’s the sign of a clever mind. That cat is dynamite, and a True Lawson.
Wow! He’s growing up so fast. One day, they’re interrupting your Katie interview, the next they steal your pills and go on tweeked out rampages. Then- the proudest moment- when you realize that if your cat can only get his shit together, you could totally leech off of him well into your Nursing Home Days. Get that feline an art tutor. Preferably angsty. Angst is in right now.
The one on his face kills me every time!!
Gosh! Hunter has gotten so big!
I will pay top dollar for a print of this to hang in my office and/or home.
The face that cat is making is priceless.
If it looks like art and it smells like art, it must be art. Or is that fart? It’s one of those.
Meh: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4guRiNZLGQ
no no no, I meant to post this one, http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=oGzjvzy65Nc&feature=endscreen
What I want to know is, what kind of stickers are kids collecting nowadays? Back in my day, we had glitter unicorns and velvetty dolphins…none of this black-letters-on-a-white-blackground stickers. What is this nonsense?
When I was 10 we went on a field trip to the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. There was a canvas painted all white. It had one red stripe put on it with a paint roller. I was told that was fine art.
Your cat is a better artist.
HST looks less than amused which totally makes me super amused.
I’d make it my desktop wallpaper…which is obviously the qualifying sign of art.
Kinda reminds me of PutABirdOnIt.com.
oooh! are you a fellow Amanda Palmer kickstarter backer??!
After rolling around in stickers, I would say more like performance art. Bravo Hunter S. Tomcat. Bravo
I can’t stop giggling at the expression on his face. I have to admit, though, that when I first saw the picture I immediately thought that you had put the stickers on him yourself. It seemed like a perfectly normal idea.
if some mad Brit can stick a dead cow in a glass square filled with Formaldehyde and call it art and another mad Brit can reproduce her dirty smelly bedroom with fag ends smelly knickers and rotten food and call it art why can’t Hunter S Thomcat in this photo be called ART – no debate really
Cats are what they want to be. So I say: Ask the cat.
Its a Cat AND Art!
Clearly he’s a Dada artist. Art in a very anti art way. Also, he looks pretty pissed. Watch out for his claws.
So glad to see HST again! He’s gotten so big.
Completely perfect.
Purrfurrmance art?
Look up “Salvador Dali” in Wikipedia and scroll down; there are not one, but TWO pictures of the man himself with the exact same look on his face as your cat. So, yes, it IS art. Because Salvador Dali says so.
Unrelated, mostly.
http://www.etsy.com/listing/102024088/flying-steampunk-rat-ooak-artist-needle
I’m curious if this will show in the comments. My favorite part of thebloggess wordle is “chaos tentatively.”
He can be both….and he doesn’t look happy!
it is art just not very good one 🙂
LMAO. Expecting to see that in the NY Metropolitan Museum of Art next time I go!
i saw this and prompted burst out laughing. oh man, i really needed that today. LOVE YOU!!
p.s. you should sell this as a print. and then i will buy it and frame it and hang it on the wall.
All this talk of performance art has me wanting to see him repeat it in real life. Would it be considered animal cruelty if you put him in a giant see-through cube filled with ART stickers and stuck it in a museum? Soundproof cube, obviously.
His facial expression is my favorite. Also, love the AFP stickers!!
If someone can draw a triangle and call it art then this is art. Mostly because I’d much rather have this hanging on my wall than a painting of a triangle.
If it looks like art and smells like art and says art…it must be art.
Every time I see this, I laugh and since i have it up in my browser right now all the time, I laugh quite a bit. Thanks for this.
How much for this masterpiece? I must have it on my wall at once.
That Blue Steel look + Mona Lisa pose is quite impressive. “Art” is an understatement.
Hey Blogess – you goddess. I’m really hoping you’ll just post something soon. I’m counting on you to remind us that life does, indeed, go on and that we aren’t really a hopeless case of hate and sadness. You seem to have a balance between shitty reality and love and light – and we could all use a little of your juju right now.
Anyhoo. We love you and need you.
I’m gonna go with Not Art, but that’s because of my cat Westley the Dread Pirate Roberts that cat in black. 🙂 Picture sent via twitter. 🙂
I luvs Hunter S. Thomcat.
That’s cat’s face is a work of somethin’…
Catz cant spellz. I thoughtz it sayz RAT.
Could there be a print of this to purchase?
(I wish, but no, because I found the graphic on free images and added the quote, but I worry that sometimes copyrighted work accidentally ends up there. If I could find the photographer and ask directly if it was okay I’d totally make it available. ~ Jenny)
So, just why does your daughter have a collection of stickers with “ART” printed on them?
Oh, wait… “your daughter”… never mind, I answered my own question. 🙂
~EdT.