art esprit

American Kitty

acrylic 36" by 48"

by Bruce Andrew McKay
(aka BAM)

The seductive nature of cats ...
In larger than living color, with the sly/shy humor and all of the wit...
Meet Bruce, observer and
painter of cats. He has taken his idea of cats and created a huge body of work devoted to their antics, musings and behaviors. I find these thoroughly enchanting. Their sheer size brings them closer to you - just like getting down on the floor and playing with them. He is a life long painter from Toronto who trained as a child with Ralph Abrams. He spent his time with a major advertising firm (SVP Creative Director of Saatchi & Saatchi Canada)when he was fresh out of art school ... But like all of us who have done something else inbetween ... went back to painting. Bruce has never looked back. His original inspiration was a magical little kitty named "Maxine". His work has been influenced by a few sources - Native North American Art for their bold colors and linework, as well as the importance of animals in their paintings and Keith Haring, Roy Liechtenstein and many early 20th century poster artists for obvious reasons. I like the way Bruce has taken us on a ride in these paintings. They emit the fun of owning a cat with out the furballs. Like Liechtenstein they let us stop and enjoy the humor in life. The rich saturated colors depict a larger than life character, who is having a whole lot of fun entertaining us, the viewer. Bruce sells his the bulk of his work to Washington Green in the UK, but good news for us in the USA, artstream will be his first gallery this summer. Don't miss it! In the mean time, take a peek at his gallery. They are sumptuous, silky, sultry kitties, depicted in kitty like and not so kitty like antics. As the one above is doing by pretending to be part of one of my favorite movies.

The word for the day is an onomatopoeia .... purr ... like a cat when you are happy and you know it!