Why Cats Paint A Theory of Feline Aesthetics

** spoiler alert ** PLEASE READ THIS BOOK THROUGH WITHOUT CHECKING ANY REVIEWS OR SPOILERS ON THE INTERNET. BLIND-DIVE AND BE CONFUSED. THE QUESTIONING IS HALF THE ENJOYMENT. Or if you must, this book is an absolutely hysterical and brilliant trolling (or is it?) delivered professionally deadpanned with dedicated pseudo references and analysis probably written unhinged on magic mushroom high which later you would realize to be a genius satire of the art scheme, but still ever hilarious and delightful because of the cute and lovely cat actors. Why cats paint? DO cats paint????? Is this real life? Or is it fantasy? Were they really painting with intent? Did they really choose those colors? And create organized patterns and symmetries? Weren't their paws simply used as brushes by the owners? Did the authors make up, overexaggerate, or actually believe this themselves? Did they just document and go along with cat owners' overwhelming pride for their furries' masterpieces? Were there actually studies, exhibitions, cat artists listings, historical references, competitions, etc pertaining to cat artistry? Or have I been too anthropocentric and occupied with my worshipping to humankind that I can't see right in front of my eyes that other species are this sentient? Do those meows mean something if only I listen and decode hard? Were the snot blotches on my front porch an elaborate message?? I had so many questions at the beginning and I couldn't help looking for the answers online halfway, which I came to regret, made it not as fun. But even if I didn't, the book showed its nature at the latter part of the book (or maybe earlier if I weren't SO (indulgingly) confused). Anyway, I laughed (NGIKIK) and clutched my heart a lot. Some paintings and installations, accompanied by thorough explanations, even moved me to aesthetic cloud nine*. They also made a great point showing that art criticism/commentary is a half-deluded fantasy of its own genre. Like, art is what you make it to be. We can easily prime people to think of things as good and bad, even when there's no objective truth beyond the mere opinion. You can really convince people to see something profound on two dried mouse carcasses (* above=this very piece TT), because meaning does not exist on the object, but in our head. This make criticism in general rather meaningless, is it not? Well, it's not a wasteful effort if it helps people to have a good time tbh, when it comes to art. This is definitely a reading experience I've never quite encountered before. I love this, I love this so much!