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The Southern King of Underground Art
R. Land, the South’s King of Underground Art, is bringing his surrealist brilliance to Savannah. Be warned.
It could be the greatest sign of our times: the viral cat meme. Someday, historians of the future will look back on 2017 and wonder why we spent so much of our time on the Internet looking at funny cat photos and watching them do hilarious things like ride Roombas around and ask for Cheezeburgers.
The really good historians of the future will know that the viral cat meme actually predates the advent of YouTube and Tumblr by years and years, tracing it back to a quirky 2001 piece of viral art that goes by the name of Loss Cat. And those historians will rightfully credit R. Land as the pioneer that he is.
"I’m always looking for excuses to be in Savannah; I’ve always wanted to do some kind of super fun blowout thing there…"
The Atlanta-based artist first rose to fame on the strength of Loss Cat, a painfully funny mock poster for a lost cat complete with garbled descriptions of said cat (“Needs Medicine. Foams.”) which appeared in posters around Atlanta and then the world at the dawn of the millennium.
His renown has grown thanks to the riveting punk-rock energy he brings to line illustrations and iconography including the hands clasped of “Pray for ATL” and the aggressively uncuddly “Little Bunny Foo Foo.” He’s even caught the attention of the theatre of the absurd that is Cartoon Network’s “Adult Swim” block of late-night animated oddities, a partnership that has resulted in everything from promotional art to surreal videos.
The last time he was asked to do a live painting, he showed up in a “raggedy, mangy looking dog suit,” and proceeded to anonymously send up his own unusual style in front of hundreds of fans, so expect the unusual when his circus of the absurd finds a home as part of the A-Town Get Down Arts and Music Festival.
“I’m always looking for excuses to be in Savannah,” said Land. “And I’ve always wanted to do some kind of super fun blowout thing there…”
Time will tell what this artistic mastermind has planned, but if you start seeing a sudden spike on lost cats around town – that’s just part of the show.
