Even though I’ve only ever owned a dog (love you, Bear), I would consider myself thoroughly a cat person. So, when MFA student Michael Morgan ’26 invited me to his cat-themed exhibition, I had no choice but to go. I met Morgan last semester, when he introduced me to his own vibrant, masterful artwork. Knowing how inspiring he is as an artist, I was eager to see the product of his curatorial pursuit. “Magnum O-Pspsps” — the title an inspired play on the Latin magnum opus — showed in the Olive Tjaden Gallery from Sept. 15 to 25. Morgan and fellow MFA student Elina Ansary ’25 curated cat-related artwork from over 47 artists working in a vast array of mediums.
“Magnum O-Pspsps” displayed feline character in every respect. Against plain white walls in a vast open space, the gallery of cats more than filled the room. The exhibition’s greatest strength was its diversity — roughly four dozen artists’ interpretations of catlike character — varying from portraits of pets to abstract color-blocking with cheetah print, from loose lines to stunningly realistic brushwork.
On conceptualizing the show, Morgan asked himself: “What does it mean to be [a] magnum opus?” The answer came trifold. “In my mind, ‘Magnum O-Pspsps’ has three thematic ties: self aggrandizing, humor and grief.” Elaborating on each theme, he continued, “There’s a campy, self aggrandizing humor that cats embody … like self imposed royalty. The other thing was humor. A lot of works here are kind of the butt of a joke … showing the childlike inspiration that sometimes the cats can bring us. Finally, one other thing … A lot of artists … shared artwork they’d done of late pets. There’s the idea of magnum opus: ‘This pet is my greatest work because I miss them; I love them.’”
Surveying the gallery, the artwork displayed an overwhelming range. Oil paintings hung next to spray-painted sculptures next to collages next to illustrations and prints. But, in each section of the gallery, I could see the distinct throughlines of each of the themes Morgan identified: Juan Hinojosa’s “Gloria” embodied self-aggrandizement in an ostentatious golden cat with sunbeam-like rays haloing its furry head, John O’Donnell’s “Carrot Cat” collages were absurd and undeniably humorous and Noel Neri hit grief right on the nose with an actual stainless steel cast of his cat’s grave.
Moving along the walls, it seemed that every individual piece caught my eye, begging me to step up close to the canvases in a way that’s gotten me admonished by security in art museums on multiple occasions. Lisa Lebofsky’s “Fileseffer,” a hyperrealistic oil-on-aluminum depicting cat fur, was just one of the pieces that made me do a serious double take, then turn around and ask Morgan whether it was actually a photograph. And although each artist, like Lebofsky, displayed immeasurable skill in their craft, when I stepped back and looked at the gallery as a whole, the curation and display really drove the show home. Stepping from section to section felt like viewing each of the different aspects of a cat — playful, aloof, affectionate, predatory — while all were still undeniably interconnected and distinctly feline.
Another of Morgan’s curatorial goals, evident in the cohesiveness of all the opposing natures of the artworks, was highlighting the idea of bonded pairs. Finding himself inundated with submissions, Morgan found that “clustering them as bonded pairs” was an inspirational “curatorial moment of letting the works respond to each other thematically.” As soon as he pointed it out, I couldn’t unsee it. The most colorful, silly section of catlike playfulness stood alongside George Booury’s illustration of a tiger mauling its prey — undeniably different moods, but all encapsulating the nature of a cat. Seeing the works clustered with their cognates and offset with their opposites was almost a pleasant whiplash; I wanted to keep looking back and forth forever. Morgan shared, “I like that they’re in conversation and opposites. … Both of those fit in this exhibition in a way that’s part of the same litter. Part of the curation process was clustering works aesthetically or thematically, works that seemed to resonate or say something new.”
I wish I had space enough to comment on each piece in the exhibit, from Kate Finneran’s haunting, glowing-eyed “Closet Cats” to Tatiana Tatum’s dreamlike, vibrant “Meow from the back seat,” but that would require a much longer article than this. So, I’ll leave off with the most powerful thing Morgan shared — his hopes for the impact of his show on other Cornell artists:
“I really want to show undergrads how you can use the gallery space to do shows. … [It’s a] really important part of building the community.”
If you’re interested in learning more about the curation of “Magnum O-Pspsps,” you can find the show featured in Art Spiel and Hyperallergic. Morgan can also be contacted at mjm764@cornell.edu or @mikemorganart on Instagram.
Melissa Moon is a member of the Class of 2028 in the College of Arts and Sciences. She is an Assistant Arts & Culture Editor on the 143rd Editorial Board. She can be reached at mmoon@cornellsun.com.
