Reigning Cats (Black)

Ronnie Cutrone (1948 - 2013) is a Pop artist best known for his large-scale paintings of America's favorite cartoon characters, such as Felix the Cat, Pink Panther and Woody Woodpecker. On the surface, Cutrone's paintings are the essence of pop: colorful, lively, and highly accessible. Many of them seem to be offered with the kind of wide-eyed, non-judgmental attitude one might expect from Cutrone, who was Andy Warhol's immediate assistant at the factory from 1972 until 1980, Warhol's most productive and prestigious years. During the time Cutrone worked side by side with the Pop master on paintings, prints, films, and concepts, he hit upon the style the critics called "Post-Pop." And, along with Mary Woronov and Gerard Malanga, danced onstage with the Velvet Underground and Nico as part of the Exploding Plastic Inevitable show. 

"Everything is a cartoon for me," Ronnie Cutrone says.