Tuesday, September 14, 2010

My favorite Etsy artists, catwalk


This morning, I'm featuring the work of fantastic Etsy collage artist, catwalk. This piece, Kitty Kat skirt, caught my eye when it was featured on the Etsy front page last week. The vintage fashion image (yes, sans head) with the added layer of adorable kittens really hit me where I live, right? Vintage fashion and tiger kitties? Doesn't get much more MAB than that! It corners the market on what I like to call "The Sandra Dee niche of retro cute." Okay, I just made that phrase up, but it certainly fits here. Only without a head, which adds a tinge of creepiness that makes the Sandra Dee angle all the more appealing. Creepy plus retro cute equals amazing.





You want owls? catwalk has owls. Look at this little fellow, wide-eyed and rather panicky, cloistered in his pink suburban paradise, staring out at the big bad world outside on Main street. This collage is called They're Out There, and I love the combination of the idyllic setting--turquoise sofa, flower arrangement, ruffled sheers--with that great expressive owl face. Sweet and spooky. And, if you think about it, the owl is looking at us. Maybe we're the scary ones?





I also love this collage print, DaDa. This reminds me of Rene Magritte, with a lovely dose of vintage gentleman's evening high fashion. Putting on the Ritz with an unsettling artistic twist. Elegant, yet disconcerting in his facelessness. This is a Dad of a different species.


What I love about all of catwalk's work is how she takes these old scraps of forgotten paper--ads, postcards, sewing patterns--and re-imagines them to give them new life. It's history turned on its head, surprising the viewer by making the known fresh and unexpected.
Case in point, what's happening here with Dottie? I mean, from the chin up, she looks like an early Fifties ideal girl, blonde-perfectly-pageboy-haired, blue-eyed living doll. But her body is comprised of dots, paper ephemeral pixels almost. Is she forming? Dissolving? I'm fascinated by how catwalk takes these tiny bits of hole-punched paper, brightly colored confetti, and makes such a beautiful mystery from them.
So, stop in and visit catwalk's colorful corner of Etsy. She has journals, pendants and magnets featuring her art too. Prepare to be surprised and delighted by every single listing. Oh, and you really ought to bring a hostess gift, say a Jell-O salad with mini-marshmallows.

5 comments:

  1. Oh how fun! Running right over to see more! Love the owl!

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  2. I'm checking out the shop asap, I love that kitty skirt print

    *carefully adds shop to an extensive spreadsheet*

    :D

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  3. Thank you for the feature! You've done a great job of capturing my work!

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  4. Oh my, her work is fantastic! Thank you for sharing, I'm off to check out her shop!

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