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Discovery Coffee hosts cool cats

Poet and painter Joe Rosenblatt presents his current show, “Luminosity," at Discovery Coffee's Oak Bay Avenue and downtown sites
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Hip Cats

The poet and the painter in Joe Rosenblatt are one and the same, as are his muses. His art however, is divided between a pair of Greater Victoria coffeeshops for his current show, “Luminosity.”

“While it is true a traditional gallery draws in different viewers and the marketplace is in a gallery, still a café like Discovery [Coffee] does both draw in art lovers and perchance art buyers,” said the Qualicum Beach resident, adding it also draws a broader spectrum of the public that might not attend gallery events.

At the Oak Bay Avenue location one particular painting features cats coexisting peacefully with birds.

“I would expect [patrons] to get up close to my paintings and enjoy what they view and get their imagination revved up, especially as they view my surreal cat painting at the Oak Bay location,” he said.

“I say cat fanciers get up close to that cat painting, real close and imagine those cats meowing in chorus.”

A major Canadian poet with 20 books of poetry and a Governor General’s award among his achievements, Rosenblatt’s paintings are abstract interpretations of the human and animal world and how the two worlds are fused.

“I am inspired by the very aesthetic nature of what I might come upon – for example the colours of plants and bees, the shape of cats and their secret, wily ways – I give the plant life ennobled human qualities,” Rosenblatt said.

“Luminosity,” original paintings and drawings by Rosenblatt, is on display at Discovery Coffee on Oak Bay Avenue until Oct. 11.

His work is also on display at their downtown location until Oct. 15.

Learn more about the artist at joerosenblatt.com.

 

cvanreeuwyk@oakbaynews.com