When we found a crazy book called “Why Cats Paint,” we were ready to turn our cat into Leonardo da Kitty. The colorful paperback, by Heather Busch and Burton Silver (Ten Speed Press, about $15), tells about cats who dip their paws in paint, swipe them on paper and make their owners rich.
There’s Buster the cat, who clawed out his own version of Van Gogh’s famous “Sunflowers” painting. Orangella, the cat on the cover, paints a mean “mood piece.” An unnamed cat gnawed on Venetian blinds to create a work called “Bad Cat.” Misty the cat painted a picture of a headless dog stuffed inside an armchair; the piece fetched $21,000 at an auction.
We wondered, are the authors pulling the fur over our eyes?
“Very, very few cats actually do paint,” said Silver when we called him in New Zealand. He said even his own cat, Minchy, is no Michelcatgelo. “It’s rare,” he said. Still, he didn’t quite ‘fess up…
Then Lisa Ryers, at the book’s California publishing company, let the cat out of the bag. She said “Why Cats Paint” was designed to make fun of art books. So the book is basically bogus!
OK, the joke’s on us. But still, the book’s way fun. So take a peek – just don’t take it seriously. A postcard book is now out ($8) and a ’96 calendar is ahead.
