Outsider Toilet Bowl Art with Cat & Alaster

 

Outsider Art with Cat & Alaster

“Art therapy is going to become very essential in healing for everyone in the future. Talk therapy is outdated because it caters to our system. It’s playing off of what society wants from us rather than exploring things without limits like art does.” ~ Cat, The Toilet: My Soul Is In Bloom

Interview: June 28, 2024

Title: The Toilet, My Soul Is In Bloom

Artists: Cat & Alaster

Medium: Porcelain toilet

Materials: Acrylic paint, gorilla glue spray, thrift store beads, stickers, paper printed memes, glitter, and hot glue

Process: Approximately six months

Questions:

• Since this piece was a collaboration, can you tell me a little bit about what this process was like? 

Cat: It didn’t start as a collaboration. I just wanted to start spray painting something. I got a bunch of spray paint, and my dad had a bunch of old toilets in the backyard. I didn’t really even ask him, I was just like, “hey mom, what are these toilets for,” and she said “I don’t know.” So I grabbed a toilet.

I just started spray painting it. Busted out all my spray paints and it just evolved from there.

Then Alaster said, “What are you doing?” I said, “I’m spray painting a toilet,” and he said, “okay, I want to join.”

He joined in and we started bringing all the acrylic paints out. We used the glitter. For five months, it just sat there spray painted different colors. Didn’t really know where it was going to go, or what it was going to be.

• So you had multiple toilets to choose from?

Cat: Yes, I believe there were two. 

• Did the collaborative vision gel together easily, or were there any conflicting visions for the piece?

Alaster: We definitely felt strongly about putting memes on the piece. Specifically, SpongeBob memes all over it. That was something that we both agreed on.

• Why the SpongeBob memes? What was it about the SpongeBob memes that was important to you?

Alaster: The childlike wonder.

Cat: Yes, the death of innocence, but also the awakening into what reality is in the moment. I feel SpongeBob has always captured so much depth that people tend to overlook. 

SpongeBob is the perfect vessel for what was happening in the world, and is still currently happening in the world.

• What is the title of this piece?

Cat: I call it My Soul’s In Bloom because it’s what I painted on the front of it, but I don’t know. It’s The Toilet.

Alaster: The Toilet.

• Are you aware that toilet art seems to be a growing phenomenon?

Cat: I have seen multiple people on Etsy selling really beautiful toilets. They're usable, which isn’t what I was doing. Mine was more like a planter/outside statement piece. But I’ve been seeing a lot of people doing things with toilets, which is very interesting, and very cool since it’s such an essential part of our everyday life as a society. 

And it’s very grotesque in a way. So it’s interesting that people are using this as a vessel for art.

• You guys put this together during Covid. Do you feel that having this art project to work on helped you to process the situation you found yourselves in?

Cat: Yes and No.

Alaster: It was a nice distraction.

Cat: It was definitely a distraction. It was also a very good medium for us to channel energy into during such an intense time. I want to say October of 2022, was when it was really ramping up and we were just sitting outside everyday, working on the toilet. Probably from April to October were the big months where we were beading everyday, and painting.

Alaster would be staring off into the hills, and there’d be spaceships going by. So many spaceships, for months, just outside with us. We’d meditate outside, and spend all our time around the toilet. It was kind of an escape since we didn’t have much space, or really anything that was ours at that point in time.

• That’s interesting. Do feel that perhaps the toilet became a focal point/an epicenter that created a portal? By focusing all your energies in this one area, you potentially opened a door?

Cat: Absolutely. So much of what we were feeling and going through was going into the piece. I think that all of that energy maintained itself in the piece.

Alaster would come in and do painting on it. He’d help me seal it with acrylic. We’d decide what different things to do with it. Throw glitter at it together. I’d spend hours just beading strings. 

It was never finished. The toilet was never finished, it should still be alive. But that’s not the way it wanted to be.

• I understand that the piece no longer exists in physical form. Does this give you a greater appreciation and understanding of the impermanence of the Buddhist sand mandalas?

Cat: Yes, I’d say so. Much like that, it was created and destroyed. I don’t believe anything intentional was happening in its destruction. The Toilet wanted this. I believe this is why it ended up this way.

I grieve for it. I still grieve for it. I wish I could have finished it. There was so much more I wanted to add to it. I’d say, it was only about 50% done. We’d spent close to 6 months working on it.

• The piece met its fate with someone backing their vehicle into it?

Cat: Yes, I believe a truck back into it. I don’t really know much more. My mom said she went outside and collected the pieces, and threw them away.

• So you don’t even have the pieces?

Cat: No, it’s gone. My dad said that he has another toilet for me if I would like another one, which was very kind. But, I don’t have the space yet.

• Is there anything else about this piece that I haven’t mentioned but you feel should be noted?

Cat: Almost all of the decorative elements, the beads and the glitter were all from the local thrift stores. Just some of the paint was purchased.

Next time I’ll use a stronger glue, like the E3900 (E6000). I’ll also get more into using fabrics with different textures. I put some bells on the top of the toilet before it met its fate.

The piece also sat outside during the El Nino for about four months of really intense storms and rain. Everything was pretty intact before it died. For the most part it was very cohesive and it stayed together. 

I do think resin or something more high powered will be good to add in the future. Just to make sure that it stays together in intense weather, because it’s intended to be an outdoor piece.

• You painted the acrylic directly onto the porcelain; what was the clear coat that you put on top?

Cat: I used Gorilla Glue spray, and I believe it’s called an iridescent sealer. I’d spray that over everything that I did. There must have been at least four cans sprayed on the toilet. 

I was trying to make sure that the glitter would seal, so it wouldn’t get picked off right away. Kind of an impossible task. It did work for a while.

• You imagine another toilet in your future?

Cat: Absolutely. I would also like to do a tub, or other household items. I was thinking along the same lines of doing something cartoon related with them, so it would be an artistic series.

• Will you destroy those next pieces, in the end?

Cat: Probably not. I’d like to keep my pieces alive. I think what happened to it was its own will. Its own fate. The Toilet chose that.

Alaster: It was a tragedy.

Cat: Yes, it was pretty tragic. I’m still kind of upset about it. I was sad. I’d love to keep working on it. I saw more for it. As things have progressed in society, I see more memes. I’ve also contemplated making my own memes for it, which I think would have been cool.

The stickers were very fun on the toilet, but they weren’t the best in execution because they faded faster than the other parts. The paint was much stronger than the paper we were using, because it was such intense weather. I believe a higher grade of sticker paper or maybe something stronger like fabric would be better?

• Do you feel that you’ll do collaborative pieces again? 

Cat: Absolutely. I feel collaborative art is very healing and it shows a lot of compassion for your fellow artists, as well as a will to learn from them because you get to watch their process. Understand what they’re doing throughout. Whether it’s watching them working, or their creative process, it’s interesting. I’d like to do more collaborative art eventually.

• The repurposing of materials in your art, do you feel this is important?

Cat: Using materials that have already had a full life is an important way to do things from here on out. Especially since we live with such excess on this planet. I think we have an abundance of waste. I would love to make art out of other things that are discarded.

It’s a statement on reclaiming nature by utilizing what we have.

• And making it fabulous.

Cat: Exactly, and making it fabulous.

• How much do you feel mental health and wellness got expressed in your piece?

Cat: I kind of think it’s essential to what we put on The Toilet. 

Art therapy is going to become very essential in healing for everyone in the future. Talk therapy is outdated because it caters to our system. It’s playing off of what society wants from us rather than exploring things without limits like art does. 

Art doesn’t have a boundary. It doesn’t have any rules, it doesn’t have anything you’re supposed to follow. It’s your feelings, and emotions. 

That gets everything out on the table for everyone. 

Art therapy is going to become critical for healing for everyone moving forward. Everyone’s going to have to have some kind of art therapy, and physical therapy. Not to say talk therapy doesn’t help some people, but in this situation, it’s not the be-all and end-all of healing.

VIDEO COMPILATION:

The Toilet: My Soul Is In Bloom, Part 1

https://youtu.be/rN6LE34MzJE?si=Vd3FLQo75q2FZQkD

The Toilet: My Soul Is In Bloom, Part 2

https://youtube.com/shorts/Rl-3qHgKJpI?si=BH3AcHT_zbH_lw7F

The Toilet: My Soul Is In Bloom, Part 3

https://youtube.com/shorts/D3SKKmyiULI?si=Kvuc69k6Hej7G7e7

The Toilet: My Soul Is In Bloom, Part 4

https://youtube.com/shorts/--YqGTv4NPE?si=BAO05s99_mdx7rUp