J. Morrison is a Brooklyn-based artist who created the project HOMOCATS to fight phobias, promote equal rights, combat cultural stereotypes, and challenge social norms. We talked with him to get the lowdown on these extremely gay cats.
MERCURY: On our cover this week, we're featuring your art, which depicts cat heads on semi-naked men's bodies. Sooo... what exactly were you thinking?
J MORRISON: The Twin Cats are taken from my zine called Fuck the Internet. They're meant as a social commentary of gay culture, by filtering them through a sea of online torsos. Also, the Twin Cats are besties living in their own rainbow universe.
How did HOMOCATS start?
The HOMOCATS were born during a 2010 art residency at the Anderson Ranch in Colorado. Inspired by early memes like "I Can Has Cheezburger" and "lolcats," the HOMOCATS use the viral phenomenon of the feline to critique mass culture with queer sensibility... and fun and humor. The first zine was called Fight the Power, which we've been fighting ever since.