Why Paint Cats
Encyclopedia
Why Paint Cats is a comedy book written by New Zealand
author Burton Silver
and illustrator Heather Busch. The book describes the practice of "cat painting" in art and history (that is, decorating cats with paint, as distinguished from painting portraits of cats). It is one of three cat art books, including Why Cats Paint
and Dancing with Cats.
This satirical book inspired much confusion since its publication, from the perspectives of both those who wished to learn where or how they might have their own cats "painted", and also from those who consider the concept unethical and abusive to the animal. These wishes and complaints were, however, unfounded.
The book is a deliberate parody of books on art and a social comment on the extreme liberties taken with pets by some pet owners in the name of fashion; it was never intended to be regarded as a serious text. The cat images were done with a photo editing program and there is no paint on any of the cats pictured. But whereas New Zealanders had the advantage of knowing Burton Silver's previous tongue-in-cheek work (most notably through his former weekly comic strip Bogor), many overseas readers were largely unaware of the spoof and took the book at face value.
The iPhone app "CatPaint" was inspired by this book.
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
author Burton Silver
Burton Silver
Burton Silver is a cartoonist, parodist, writer, art critic and inventor. He lives in Wellington, New Zealand.Silver was born in Wellington and attended Wellington College, later completing a B.A. at Victoria University of Wellington. He worked initially as a boilermaker's assistant on Groote...
and illustrator Heather Busch. The book describes the practice of "cat painting" in art and history (that is, decorating cats with paint, as distinguished from painting portraits of cats). It is one of three cat art books, including Why Cats Paint
Why Cats Paint
Why Cats Paint is a comedy book written by New Zealand author Burton Silver and illustrator Heather Busch....
and Dancing with Cats.
This satirical book inspired much confusion since its publication, from the perspectives of both those who wished to learn where or how they might have their own cats "painted", and also from those who consider the concept unethical and abusive to the animal. These wishes and complaints were, however, unfounded.
The book is a deliberate parody of books on art and a social comment on the extreme liberties taken with pets by some pet owners in the name of fashion; it was never intended to be regarded as a serious text. The cat images were done with a photo editing program and there is no paint on any of the cats pictured. But whereas New Zealanders had the advantage of knowing Burton Silver's previous tongue-in-cheek work (most notably through his former weekly comic strip Bogor), many overseas readers were largely unaware of the spoof and took the book at face value.
The iPhone app "CatPaint" was inspired by this book.