My name is Leon Cato, a visual artist working under the name undercat. My practice centers on abstract self‑portraiture and illustrated figures that externalize internal psychological states shaped by anxiety, social perception, authenticity, and solitude.
I work without sketches or references, allowing drawings to emerge intuitively through sustained repetition and mental rumination rather than moments of flow or resolution. The resulting figures - which are then transformed into acrylic paintings - are not representations of physical likeness, but psychological stand‑ins. They are distorted forms that register internal pressure, fragmentation, and emotional labor.
In 2025, following the deaths of both my parents, my work became a sustained engagement with grief - particularly the bargaining stage, marked by repetition, imagined alternatives, and quiet negotiation. Rather than depicting loss directly, the work documents its psychological residue as it persists within daily life.
Across all bodies of work, undercat functions as a framework for visualizing internal experience not as catharsis or closure, but as endurance.
Thank you!