Catophilia?

Again, I’ve been a bad, neglectful blogger. Mid-term style school has reared its ugly head again and with it has come its ever-faithful companion Procrastination (who’s also posse with Last-minute Early Morning Panic-Stricken Essay Writing).

But, amidst all this chaos, I did manage to see the Vesna Sontse show at Magic Pony as a part of “Come Up to My Room” at the Gladstone last weekend. I realized, once I arrived, that I’d never been in to Magic Pony’s gallery space before, only browsed through their amazing array of prints, posters, stationery and fun frivolous sculptural things.

The exhibit was a wide array of different fun pieces, but I particularly loved a series of prints by Melinda Josie who seems to be suffering from a case of catophilia (I have no idea if that’s a real word, but the internet seems to sort of think it is, which is enough legitimacy for me).

Witness, for instance, Kitty Picnic:

Melinda Josie, Kitty Picnic, watercolour, goauche on archival paper.

28 x 22” framed

I think what I like about them, aside from just generally being genetically predisposed to pretty prints and drawings, is that they sort of remind me of Beatrix Potter, only married with the Royal Art Lodge.

Beatrix Potter, illustration from The Tale of Pigling Bland (1913)

But my favourite image of Josie’s was actually Kitty Willow:

Melinda Josie, Kitty Willow

This image actually doesn’t do justice to the colours. The blue especially is super saturated and vivid. I am, no joke, seriously considering saving up to buy a print of this one. I have some fears that owning such a piece would make me a cat lady of the art world, but maybe I just need to embrace catophilia like the Fastwürms and go with the flow.