20 cat sculptures invade Paris

"The cat is me – just in a chubby version", Philippe Geluck told DW. "This one is light as a feather and yet, it weighs a ton – literally." The Belgian artist says this statue was particularly difficult to create. "I normally hide my cat's lower body under a coat, but this one's legs had to be really well defined," he stated.

"This statue is Belgium incarnate," said Geluck. "We have everything we need: a nice climate, plenty of resources, and a rich heritage. And yet, we waste huge amounts of energy on quarreling between us French-, Flemish- and German-speakers." And so the Belgians can't escape the constant rain they create themselves – despite having umbrellas. At the least, they are modest and have a sense of humor.

"Just for once, a car gets run over by a cat – and not the other way around. Lately, numerous vehicles of all types have come under the cat," the Belgian artist explains – with a pinch of humor. "Road violence towards the innocent (cats) has to end," he said. So now, scores of cars, hastily abandoned by their drivers, have to fear for their lives. At last, what goes around will come around.

In Greek mythology, titan Atlas had to hold up the celestial heavens. Geluck's cat has to carry our world in this realm – filled with plastic waste. Quite a load, even for a cat weighing a ton. From June onwards, the statues will first travel to other French cities, then to Italy, Switzerland and Luxemburg. In 2024, they will reach their final destination at Geluck's upcoming Brussels cat museum.

Every cat can be a winner – even Geluck's obese creatures. But the question always is: who is yout competition? The city of Paris didn't have to pay for this exhibition. Artist Geluck funded his statues by selling them to collectors in advance – for a song, he says: "Each cat costs €300,000 – that's only €300 per kilo!" 16 statues have already been bought, another four are still up for grabs.

Many people engage in all sorts of sports to lose weight. But that weight doesn't seem to come off for the cat. This statue, just like the others at the Champs-Elysées, still weighs a ton. At least the cat get to have a prestigious address in Paris where it can lift weights and work out. It took Geluck two years to draw, sculpt and mould the two-meter high bronze statues - all made in Belgium.

Don't be fooled by this cat! Dressed up as a doctor, it appears to even care for little birds. "Yes, but you need to look behind its back. There, it's holding a fork! It's just taking care of the bird so that it can eat it later on," underlines Geluck. "The cat is just like us humans – first, we do one thing, then the opposite."

"This is my favourite cat," says Geluck. "The sculptor Auguste Rodin has taken the easy way out; he only invented his thinker. I have invented a statue that can speak," he explains. Indeed, speech bubbles lens this cat a voice of sorts. When challenged, Geluck points to a statue on the roof of the museum Grand Palais just across the road: "You see? That statue over there can't speak!"

This particular cat sculpture plays a big role in Geluck's Paris exhibition: "I wanted to pay tribute to my friends and colleagues," he says. The artist is referring to the cartoonists of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, who were killed in a terror attack in 2015. "We're still crying over them." The birds perched on the pencils that killed the cat still chirp, even in the face of adversity.

Geluck's witty cat sculptures have made him famous around the world. He's sold 14 million copies of his comic albums over the past 30 years. Most of them were bought in French-speaking countries. He has also exhibited in galleries like the Galerie Hubert&Breyne in Paris seen here, which is holding a Geluck exhibition to accompany the works shown at the Champs-Elysées "catwalk" until June 5, 2021.