“Pizza Cats of the Internet,” an exhibition of paintings by local Cape Girardeau artist Thomas Shaner, will be on display Oct. 1-Nov. 12 at Catapult Creative House.
An opening reception will be held Friday, Oct. 1 from 5-9 p.m. Face coverings are required.
Memes have been a staple of the Internet for a while. In Shaner’s opinion, the most popular are cat memes, such as cheeseburger cat or keyword cat. Memes have a lot in common with pop art. Both take something ordinary and transform it. According to Shaner, the cat memes on the Internet are the modern pop art. The watercolor paintings in this exhibition are inspired by pop art such as George Rodrigue’s “blue dogs,” Roy Lichtenstein’s comic-inspired work and Wayne Thiebaud’s paintings of food. All the paintings in the exhibition are small to mimic the small screen of a cell phone.
Attendees are welcome to tour the entire Catapult facilities including Southeast’s Department of Art and Design student studios and gallery. Visitors are also invited to browse the merchandise in the Catapult Creative House Shoppe, which features student work and local business products.
Catapult Creative House is located at 612 Broadway in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Hours of operation are Monday through Saturday 8 a.m.-4 p.m. All gallery exhibitions, events and talks are free and open to the public.
