"This One's for You"

The cat as the protector.

I like painting cats. During my darkest moments, sometimes it seems, only a cat can truly understand me. Deeply conflicted and mysterious themselves, they listen, silently. The cats on the surface of my canvases embody me and my highs and my lows. ‘This One’s For You’ is the underdog, the tiny black feline transforms into a Panther. She pounces on the predator, and saves me from myself. Pussies always look out for Pussies.

The presentation of the work hinges on how and with what it is placed with in the gallery space. The painting is propped on blocks not hung directly on the wall, in this case a single jug with dried palm leaves stands with the painting. For me, the presence of the work installed this way is important to draw attention to the significance of its status as an object, arranged with carefully chosen additions – a shrine -simultaneously devoted to the everyday and to the romanticism of symbolism and imagination.