Catherine Niemeh Kaleel

My work is a satirical illustration discussing the “male gaze” ie objectification of women. The female has become the meal. I love humor and incorporating it in my art. Food, cats, and figure painting have been long long time running imagery in my work. This series is important in my broad scope of work because it was the first time I figured out how to combine them and with humor. My process in which I painted it- the figures were painted from life in three 6 hour sessions without any preconceived ideas for the environment. The poses were chosen by the model or the person running the figure session; I had no choice. Female poses in media are typically passive – not taking an action like men are depicted in media. I then invented the environments around this pose.