The soft ones, the fluffy ones, the matronly ones and the gentle ones; every cat lover knows the complexity which accompanies each feline’s personality. If a dog is the “man’s best friend”, then the cat is a soul-mate.

Gwen and Ling Tze depict cats and their relationship with the people around them representing them in a manner that is non-intrusive. Cats have a deep sense of belonging to society and are yet very individualistic, territorial though also wanting to share. These complexities of human emotions are also manifested in Gwen’s and Ling Tze’s paintings.

In the medium of acrylic paintings, the kittens and cats in lady-artists Gwen Lim and Ng Ling Tze’s exhibition stare back at you, sometimes in doleful innocence, sometimes in catty arrogance. Yet, though the paintings sometimes seem whimsical and arising out of a sphere of ecstatic imagination, they always belie the heartfelt connection between artists and their subjects.

Ling Tze relates to her cats. Her paintings tell you that she does. Ling Tze produces a more realistic depiction of cats, but contextualizes them as she would see them in her mind’s eye. Her subject matter is her direct interpretation of her environment, shown in her paintings with a poetic charm that will not only captivate our visual sense but also stike a cord in our hearts. Her paintings transform the reality of cats into an ideal fantasy world for cats to live in. In this timeless space, cats still do whatever they like or suppose to do but without any restriction or suffering. The cats will not subjected to cruel abuse by human being unlike the ones in the real world.

Gwen uses acrylic on canvas and her works contain a strong appeal to the realm of the fairy-tale. The cats in her work are personified and are depicted to be involved in narratives involving other animals, all of whom express emotion which is almost human. Painted in clean lines and with clear details, Gwen’s portraits of her favorite childhood pet spring both artist and viewer back into the years of her youth and idealism.