fat Cat Art book giveaway
Book Reviews/giveaways/ Q + A,  Cats

Fat Cat Art Book Review and Giveaway

September 6, 2015 / 52 Comments
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Giveaway winner news. Congrat to the winner of our ASPCA disaster preparedness gift pack ( pet safety pack, blanket and umbrella) is Sue.

fat Cat Art book giveaway

I remember the first time I saw a big, fat cat posing with the Mona Lisa and laughed, wishing I’d thought of that brilliant meme and it’s a book to be released on Sept, 15, 2015. Fat Cat Art:Famous Masterpieces Improved by a Ginger Cat With Attitude is published by Tarcher/Penguin. Svetlana Petrova, the author, along with her feline muse, the portly Zarathustra have turned the art world more purrfect. Cat lovers know life is better with cats so why not art? The blend of a funny cat and classic art is a marriage made in cat culture meme heaven. It’s not as easy as it looks. As someone who majored in art history, I’ve enjoyed a lifelong passion for fine art and Fat Cat Art is at once clever, amusing and surprisingly sophisticated. If you know nothing about art history, you’ll enjoy the cat infused art at face value. Hopefully readers will be intrigued about some of the paintings and Google what the originals (found in major museums around the world) look like with a new appreciation.

Art lovers will recognize many insider terms, background of the paintings and marvel at Petrova’s skill at placing the cat in the optimum location. This is no slapdash PhotoShop affair. It takes time and a team effort. First comes inspiration, then Zarathustra is photographed in precise poses (yes, he is a ham), images of the painting are photo-edited to incorporate the cat and digitally manipulated to reflect the style of the artist. For exhibitions, the images are printed on canvas and manually finished with gels, oils and rare pigments to add an authentic patina of age.

The end result alters the mood, context and meaning of the original to become a new art form. The co-authors describe the “real” version in droll but literary-laced tongue-in-cheek text. Artists have depicted cats in their work for thousands of years but cats as a subject in their own right is an evolving oeuvre. Museum curators are taking note and cat art exhibits are popping up from The Japan Society to New York.

To see more examples of Fat Cat Art and the latest mews, visit FatCatArt.com The galleries are a mini art history romp through the ages from ancient times, the Renaissance to contemporary art. There are are pieces not included in the book which are a wry socio-political commentary on contemporary events. Petrova inherited her lifelong love of Cats (capitalized through the book) and art from her mother. When she died in 2008, Petrova adopted her Cat, Zarathustra. At the time Petrova was already using her cat Marc in her multi-media art installations but decided to do something more light-hearted Zarathustra to cheer her up. The first Cat and Masterpieces combos were a lark but took the Internet by storm. Svetlana Petrova is the founder and the director of the International Festival of Animation Arts “Multivision” in St. Petersburg, Russia and leads other cultural projects. Most recently she produced the 3rd edition of the “Cats and the City” fiction and animated cat viral Internet films screened on Aug. 29 to 30 in St. Petersburg.

Our feline book reviewer Merlin says, “Fat Cat Art has made great strides for cat culture but it’s only the beginning. Cats will continue to exert their feline mastery in art, culture and every other sphere until humans succumb 100% to our charms. The marmalade mancat with the mostest, Zarathustra is my hero. I give his book a “4 Paws way up” rating. P.S. He was 22 lbs. but is on a diet. I think he’s just big boned and you know the camera adds 10 lbs.”

Check out this short video about the cat art and artistic collaboration.

Like to win a copy of Fat Cat Art:Famous Masterpieces Improved by a Ginger Cat With Attitude? It’s easy peasy. Simply leave a comment before 11:59 pm ET, Sept 12, 2015. For extra chances to win, social media share and leave a separate comment telling us where you shared.

If you’re itching to get your paws on a copy right meow…

FTD disclaimer: We received review copies but no other compensation and our views (human and feline) are 100% our own.

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