PASADENA, CALIFORNIA – OCTOBER 02: Nicolas Cage themed artwork is on display at CatCon 2022 at the Pasadena Convention Center on October 02, 2022 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Araya Doheny/Getty Images)
If anything could unite the Internet, it’d be cats, hands-down – but Nicolas Cage might be a close contender. CatCon, the “biggest event in the world dedicated to cat and pop culture” according to its website, recently featured an exhibit honoring both national treasures. The show, called “Uncaged: The Unbearable Weight of Genius Cat Art,” included several pieces of the Academy Award-winning celebrity cat dad and his feline friends.
About the Cat Art Show
Susan Michals, the founder of CatCon and curator of Cat Art Show, told Yahoo Entertainment she got the idea for the exhibit when she noticed Cage consistently mentioned his cats in interviews. One he did this spring while promoting his new film, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent struck her.
“Well, my best friend is a cat. And his name is Merlin,” Cage said. “He’s an unusual cat. He’s very affectionate. He loves contact. Sometimes he’ll jump into bed, and he’ll hug me, you know? I’ll actually think it’s my wife. Nope, it’s Merlin. And it’s just an amazing, kind of loving, affectionate energy that’s coming off of that cat. He’s a real, a real sweetheart. So that’s my best friend.”
Michals is a proud, self-proclaimed cat lady and a huge Cage fan. “He’s cult, he’s camp, and he DGAF,” she told the Huffington Post. “Cats have many of the same characteristics ― so why not combine the two and celebrate it on canvas?”
She contacted some of the previous Cat Art Show contributors and asked them if they’d like to participate. The seven resulting pieces are just as wacky and wonderful as you’d expect. Priced at $300 to $5,000, multiple pieces sold before their CatCon debut on October 1.
About CatCon
CatCon, an annual two-day event in Pasadena, California, is about helping cats as much as celebrating them. A dollar from every admission ticket goes to three feline-friendly charities. So far, the organization has donated more than $330,000, according to Michals. Attendees can also adopt cats at the event – more than 700 have found forever homes there.