Artwork by Petey

Untitled No. 9, nose-prints on glass

Opportunity “Petey” Felison first began exhibiting his work at age 5 (36 in cat years) in Moscow, Idaho.  Petey’s intriguing abstract works define the triumph of feline stoicism in spite of a routine and pampered lifestyle.  Petey deftly employs a time-intensive process of printmaking known as nasus clauorum vitro, or nose-on-glass.  A subtle form of expression and peaceful protest-- which the artist combines into  breathtaking installation pieces.  Each ephemeral stipple-point is as personally identifying as a man’s fingerprint. The underlying glass is of particular significance to Petey, as it symbolizes his window to the world.   The viewer is immersed by the primeval and raw qualities of the medium, made paradoxically modern by displaying the work in situ and back-lit by modern lighting.  As if it were the transparent lens of an eye, the work is ever-shifting and re-focusing.  Built up, layer by layer the work is cumulative yet never complete-- a token of the artist's quest for a greater sense of perfection.

The artist at work.