The grammatically challenged felines known as LOLcats are clawing their way off computer screens and into the mainstream art world.
Works by nearly 30 artists influenced by the pidgin-speaking-cat meme will be auctioned off Thursday during a sold-out art show in San Francisco -- with proceeds going to benefit an adult-literacy program.
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"I've been obsessed with LOLcats for a couple of years," said Marianne Goldin, the organizer and curator of the one-night-only LOL Arts show and auction. "They're the gestalt of humor for me."
LOLcats, the crazy cat photos with goofball sayings that swept onto the web a few years ago, are rapidly becoming more than just an internet meme. The popular LOLCat aggregation site
I Can Has Cheezburger? clocks upwards of 3 million views each day while the book I Can Has Cheezburger?: A LOLcat Colleckshun, which reproduces some of the most popular images from a LOLcat website, hovered at the top of The New York Times best seller list for two weeks after its debut earlier this month.
Meanwhile, the LOLcat meme has mutated online, with LOL-style captioned photos mocking everything from metal bands and Star Trek to soap operas.
Goldin, a University of Washington undergrad and freelance illustrator, said her ultimate goal is to transform the internet phenomenon into a legitimate art movement.
"Take ceiling cat," she said. "He's the god of LOLcat land. And to see him re-created in a
16th-century Renaissance-inspired oil painting, it strikes me as a new painting movement."
Goldin had been looking for a way to merge her art background with her inner geek. In August, she asked Ben Huh, CEO of the
I Can Has Cheezburger? site, about hosting a LOLcat-inspired art show. He agreed to sponsor the event, and helped Goldin secure a location and date.
"I think it's a wonderful reflection of the community at our sites and the connections our users have built over their content," said Huh of the LOL Arts show. "I'd love to see it travel to other cities."
Goldin hand-picked the pieces in the auction from nearly 80 submissions. There were oil paintings, watercolors, sculptures and etched-glass pieces (like "I Does It" by Amanda Siska, pictured) and even a song centered around the LOLcat phenomenon.
Huh, who has seen turnouts as high as 300 for I Can Has
Cheezburger?-themed bar events, said 200 tickets to Thursday's silent auction sold out in the first hour they were on sale, requiring a location swap to a bigger venue.
All proceeds from Thursday's event will go to Partners in Reading, a San Francisco Bay Area-based nonprofit that tackles adult literacy.
"[LOLcats] are an untapped passion for a lot of people," said Goldin. "As inane as it is ... it makes for a very fruitful medium."
Images courtesy LOL Arts
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