The following imagery and artist statement originally appeared in Red Wedge #6, “In Defense of Transgression.”
These pastiche posters portray the victories and transformations of cat-kind following a revolution that has overthrown all relations in which cat is a depraved, enslaved, abandoned or despised being. These repurposed propaganda posters attempt to capture the aesthetic energy and radical, transformative hope of the 20th century revolutions while criticizing the social order that they both replaced and created. The works attempt not to rewrite or document history but rather to create hopeful images of a world in which creatures have escaped the logic of history and point toward a real-possible future.
That the protagonists in this historical-political adventure are domesticated cats is more significant than the ubiquity of cats in popular culture. The anthropomorphy suggests a transformed world and nature — upright beings, creatures and persons and a hard world made soft. They depict a world of unconditional solidarity and mutual respect, where creatures and things are cared for, where the strays have found a homeland and are welcome to nap away a sunny afternoon, or for that matter, explore the galaxy.
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Nathan Nun is a self-taught artist, illustrator and designer residing in Toronto, Canada. His current artistic focus is fusing anthropomorphic animal characters with historical and fantasy settings and styles. The scope of his original and pastiche workers ranges from historically influenced medieval portraits to modern posters. His primary mediums are pencil, acrylic painting, and digital illustration. You can find his website here.