Bunny & Muso. Redux

Bunny, the cat, didn't have a name when he came to live with us. His previous owner, Moses, who lived around the corner from us, sold his home and moved away in the winter of 2015. Moses stopped by to feed him at first, opening a can of food and leaving it on the porch of his former home, but it was cold that winter and I decided to bring him home to be my "studio" cat.

At the time we also had a rescue dog--a little bitey dachshund named Muso ("muzzle" in Italian) who was bitey because he was fearful ("dershrokn" in Yiddish). We weren't sure how the two would get along so at first Bunny stayed in the studio but over the next few weeks the nameless homeless cat became our Bunny--after Bunny and the Wailers.

If we adopted Bunny, he adopted us and most especially he adopted Muso. They were best friends walking around the block every day before lunch together and sleeping together on the couch. Muso passed away in April 2018.

Bunny quickly became an ongoing subject of mine to draw and paint in his gestural and painterly poses. A true artist's model, Bunny could hold a pose for a good long time usually because he was asleep. After a prolonged illness, he died early August 2021. Bunny was an endearing personality, and a loveable guy.

These collages are a homage and tribute to both Muso and Bunny.

Ben Killen Rosenberg
ben.killen.rosenberg@gmail.com
503 939 4757