Don Gato & His Gang

Description

Title: Don Gato & His Gang
Artist: ArNoUx
Year: 2025
Medium: Acrylic on recycled makeup box with aluminum lid
Estimated Dimensions: Approximately 6 x 3 x 1.5 inches (15 x 8 x 4 cm)
Style: Neo-German Expressionism / Found Object Art

Curatorial Statement:
Don Gato & His Gang is a playful yet poignant transformation of a discarded makeup box into a vibrant, layered portrait of urban mysticism. At the center, a crumpled metallic lid becomes a halo or crown, where a feline-like face emerges from bold impasto strokes and scratched textures. Rendered in deep blacks, shimmering gold, and touches of electric yellow and violet, the figure evokes both a streetwise guardian and a trickster saint.

This piece is a tribute to the overlooked—to alley cats, forgotten containers, and every castoff soul trying to survive with style. ArNoUx elevates what is broken or banal, turning it into a mythic relic through color, gesture, and sheer defiance.

Part of the Recycled Icons Series, Don Gato & His Gang channels humor, memory, and resistance—blurring the lines between trash and treasure, sacred and street.