Why Paint Cats

I just bought this book out of mere facination. The photos are amazing. Do you know anyone who does this? I know the book can also be found on amazon.com. I attached a photo of the book cover. I can't imagine a cat sittng still for this.!!!

Why did a woman in California pay an artist $5,000 to paint her cat to look like a pig? What made a New York stockbroker spend even more than that to have the image of Charlie Chaplin painted on his cat’s posterior? WHY PAINT CATS reveals that, far from being an amusement for the idle rich, this seemingly aberrant behavior is part of a new art movement that claims to promote a better understanding of the cats in our lives. Following the international success of their previous collaboration of feline aesthetics, WHY CATS PAINT, Burton Silver and Heather Busch turn their scholarly attention to the cat as canvas. The authors detail all the latest trends in the movement, including the highly controversial Retromingent Expressionism, drawing conclusions that will provoke and amuse, startle, and enlighten. Exhaustively researched and lavishly illustrated, this insightful and engaging book raises important ethical questions and explores the rights of pet owners to reinvent their cats in the name of art.


“You’d think a person would have better things to do with $5,000 than to have her cat painted to look like a pig. . . . I personally appreciate feline beauty without a brush, but for the person who has every art book, my bet is they don’t have one showcasing cats as canvases.” —Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“I would not paint a cat if someone paid me to do so. I would not paint a cat if Picasso rose from the grave and taught me how. If a cat represented the last piece of canvas on earth, I still would not paint that cat. I just know better. Sadly some people do not. . . . I’m pretty sure it’s not a hoax.” — Jackson Clarion-Ledger

“Suggests itself both as art and an art. Who am I to kibble?” —San Francisco Chronicle

“Painted cats transform into art with a purrpuss.”
—Las Vegas Review Journal

“By the time you finish flipping through WHY PAINT CATS, the latest art-book collaboration by writer Burton Silver and photographer Heather Busch, you’ll have more questions than answers. Seeing Charlie Chaplin’s face painted on a cat’s rump has that effect.” —Heather McKinnon, Seattle Times

“It felt wrong. I was appalled. Then I began to flip through the book, and was knocked back on my heels by the beauty of (some) of the works of art. A question I’d never considered nestled in my brain:
Why not paint cats?” —San Diego Union Tribune

BURTON SILVER is a well-known New Zealand inventor and writer with a fascination for subjects outside the mainstream. He has more than ten books to his credit with subjects ranging from fringe sports, non-primate art, and the aesthetics of avian dejecta. Silver has a keen interest in animal intelligence. He makes his home in New Zealand.

This is just a joke book, the photos are just someone with a good paintshop package.

No way could you paint a real life cat... Isn't this by the same publisher as Cat who Dances & Cats who paint ?

[edit] Same Publisher & 'authur'

I guess I would have to look at the pictures to *appreciate* this art.:rolleyes: It sounds cruel. Something for the idle rich. But, I haven't seen the book - they actually apply paint to cats????:confused: :mad: :eek:
Surely it is a joke???

From what I gather in the book they actually do paint them with a process that sucks tiny hairs in and dyes them. ??? I'm not sure if it is the same author as the other books. The photos are actually very pretty even if they aren't real. There is a story in the book about a woman who's cat was blind who painted (dyed) dark glasses on it so people would know it couldn't see. I guess this was in the 40's or 50's. It also says that in India people paint prayers on their pets to protect them.

Why you wouldpaint , the most beautiful Animal, in the world , is beyond me!