interview with andy, executive producer of cat stories

 powertothepupil.com


On Sunday January 30^th, I met with Andrew S. Phillips to discuss his latest project Cat Stories presented by Art for Arts Sake. Caleb Stone (CS) of Professor Calculus was there rudely interrupting throughout the interview, most of his comments have been omitted.

State your name for the record.

My name is Andrew S. Phillips.

What are you doing and why am I talking to you?

I’m doing Cat Stories.

What’s Cat Stories?

Cat Stories is an art show slash benefit. Basically the public submits stories about cats. Happy, sad, whether you love them, whether you hate them, long or short, it doesn’t matter. And then we get all the stories, we divide it among fifteen artists that are in my art group. Each story is going to have its own original, one-of-a-kind work-of-art that’s created from inspiration from the stories.

What’s the name of your art group?

We’re called Art For Arts Sake.

Do you have a website?

We don’t.

Oh.

Thanks for making me look bad.

That’s ok, I’ll edit this out.

CS -      But you won’t because it adds character to the interview.

What was the question? Oh ya, talk about Art For Arts Sake.

Hey, let’s start over. I’m not feeling very good about the interview so far.

Ok. Do you just want to talk about Cat Stories then? What are going to be the highlights?

The name of the show is Cat Stories and pretty much the concept behind it is for people to send us any story about cats to catstoriesla@gmail.com. It’s put on by my art group Art For Arts Sake. It’s me and about fourteen other artists – painters, photographers, sculptors, performance artists.

Then after February 12^th we’re going to divide up all the stories between our artists and each story we receive will get a one of a kind work of art made for that story. And in our show the artwork will be hanging on the wall and the story will be displayed underneath it. So it’s a good way to see a re-creation of your story. Forty-percent of the proceeds from the show are going to go to the Lang Foundation; they’re a non-kill animal rescue based out of Los Angeles that does really awesome things. We have some surprises in store – open milk bar, giant litter box, maybe some stray cats running around. It’s going to be an awesome event, it’s going to be probably around late March.

So there will be cats at the show?

Well, I was going to have cats at the show but I don’t think the cats would enjoy being at the show very much.

But can you bring your own cat?

I want it to be like that. You know, ‘Hey, bring your cat!’

Do you have the date set?

We don’t yet, but it will be around late March. It’s probably going to be at Mime School. But of course, just keep checking out the Facebook.

How many cat stories have you received so far?

So far I have about thirty-five. We’re hoping to get about a hundred. So a lot of art.

Will there be music at the show?

Yes, there will be music at the show.

CS –    Hey, hold on a sec, check out his picture, this chick, S., she and her friend were all about M. for a while, her friend was all on M.’s d. So she came over, and she had a long term boyfriend but her friend was fucking with M. so they both decided to come over to my pad one night. We brought them back one night and we were like, ‘Ya, alright, we both got bitches.’ But then she was all like, ‘No, I’m not going to bone you.’ But we were making out and it was on. So she hops on, just for like a couple seconds and was just like…[unintelligible squishing noise]…and flays around like a fish being electrocuted. It was the worst sex I ever had. And then at that moment I looked over, as this is happening, this very brief moment of passion if you will, I see M. and the other chick looking at us, like shocked. I guess they walked in from the other room. And then she left that night. No, no, no, she slept out in the living room with M. and her friend and then left in the morning and then the next day she got back with her boyfriend who she had broken up with the night before. I can interpret that as a blow to the self-esteem but instead I’m going to think of it as a moment of capitalizing on opportunity.

And you’re helping out a couple.

CS -     Ya, I guesss. These rich girls, they have swag. You guys might want to do this interview closer to the event. Andy, you’re trying to promote this event with this interview, but you have no details.

The only thing I’m promoting right now is getting the stories. Send me stories [catstoriesla@gmail.com]

CS -     How many more do you need.

Seventy.

CS -     You need seventy? How many do you want to have?

Around a hundred.

CS -     Thirty is a lot.

I want a hundred. Mime is a big place. And I want it completely filled.

CS -     Can’t you just make the art bigger?

There’re going to be different sizes and I’ve already started shooting. Everything is going to be all different sizes.

CS -     But what if the idea is just that everything is big.

I want to have various sizes, and there will be very big pieces.

CS -     But what if you go from big to very big?

Because small will bring you in. Some stories are small.

CS -     Ok, I trust your artistic vision.

I talked to this girl whose mom creates these huge cat paintings and then embellishes them with real antique jewelry and puts them in antique frames. So she’s going to display some of her shit. I got this guy that has a small room in his house that’s filled with two-feet by two-feet pictures of cats. He’s the leader of a cat themed moped gang called ‘The Meowpeds’.

Oh, is he going to be a part of the show?

He hit me up. He said, I don’t have a cat story…I am a cat story. He sent me pictures of his house and I was like, ‘I want you to help me.’

Do you have any cat stories that you want to tell off the top of your head?

I would love to, but really I’m going to leave that up to the show. There’s been a story about cats helping people cope with the suicide of a loved one, there’s a cat that helped people get through their friends getting murdered.

So there’s fiction, non-fiction…

It’s all non-fiction. There’s a story about a cat that disappeared for two years and came back to it’s owner after two years. Some really awesome stuff.

Very touching.

I started posting on cat blogs, recently.

What are some cat blogs you go to?

What was I on last night? The Cat’s Meow?…Something like that.

CS -     Here, I found a link to it. The most popular cat blogs on the internet: Blogging Cat, Daily Cat Picture, Derby Sassy Cat, icanhascheezburger, The Daily Kitten.

The Itty Bitty Kitty Committee.

CS -     See this is what people do on the internet. They make lists.

This is weird. People blogging about their pets lives.

CS -     Awww, that’s cute. Shall we dance? - cheezburger.com/view/4359727360

That’s a tiny cat.

I can’t wait for the Worst Roommate Ever show.

What’s the Worst Roommate Ever show?

Same concept. Public submitted stories about your worst experience with roommates.

CS -     Everybody has one of those. That’s a blue collar art show.

But every show we’re going to do is going to benefit something or some charity. After that show we’re going to do a Slaw Down. Have you heard about the Slaw Down?

No. What’s that?

Ultimate Cole Slaw Throwdown in MacArthur Park. Pretty much it’s a coleslaw cook-off in the summer in the heat. I’m going to rent a donkey. This summer I’m going to try to throw the worst parties ever. No ice buckets. Just summer and buckets of slaw sitting there for hours on end. It’s starts at one thirty in the afternoon when the sun’s high. And there’s no shade. We’re going to do it in the middle of the park where there’re no trees.

CS -    Bring your own slaw.

We can’t be sued if we’re not selling anything right? If you bring your own slaw and you get sick then that’s your own business.

CS -    If you eat food from a stranger you’re taking that responsibility on.