CHAPTER FIVE
Pretty as a Picture: Furry Art
ANTHROPOMORPHIC ART has always been part of civilization, as long as there’s been civilization; just about every culture has at one time or another depicted animals acting as people.
In twelfth-century Japan the first of the “Animal Frolic” scrolls was created. Frogs and rabbits abound, standing on their hind legs wrestling in one image, and chasing after a hat-wearing monkey in another, branches in hand to swat the fleeing miscreant. The nightmarish rightmost panel of Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights is filled with animals harrowing unfortunate humans, like the rabbit hunter who carries his captured human prey upside-down or the pig wearing a nun’s headpiece smooching a guy who appears less than overjoyed about it.
You can find anthropomorphic representation in every aspect of modern society: in cartoons and kids’ books, sports and advertising mascots, mainstream entertainment and fine art—and, absolutely, in the furry community.
Furry was birthed by cartoon and “funny animal” comics fans and artists. The majority of furry activity still takes place on paper, and increasingly on computer screens. Fursuiters standing outside the convention hotel are easy to spot, but the buying, selling and creation of furry art going on inside (or online) is where the real action takes place…
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CONTINUED IN –
FURRY NATION:
The True Story of America’s Most Misunderstood Subculture
NOW ON SALE FROM CLEIS PRESS
Click here to view an assortment of fursuits.