Combine the fan bases of Norman Reedus, fan favorite Daryl Dixon in AMC's top-rated The Walking Dead, and artistic depictions of cats and you've covered pretty much all of humanity.
The two come together delightfully this weekend in Los Angeles, where one of Reedus's photos, Cooks in the Kitchen, is featured in Cat Art Show 2: The Sequel. The exhibit, which features work by such noted artists as Mark Ryden and Marion Peck, runs through Sunday at Think Tank Gallery.
Reedus, who counts cinematography and photography among his artistic pursuits, had his own photography exhibit recently at L.A.'s Voila! gallery. He also has a book of photography, The Sun's Coming Up … Like a Big Bald Head.
Reedus's cat photograph is connected to his better known pursuit, acting. He was in Russia shooting 2007's Moscow Chill when he had the chance to visit a prison.
"The photo was (taken) in a maximum-security prison in Moscow. I happened to take pictures of two prisoners who were working in the kitchen and a kitten ran out when I whistled for them to look at me," Reedus tells USA TODAY. "It was a pretty beautiful photo because of the colors in it. And it was all just spontaneous. It happened on the fly."
Reedus has a 9-year-old cat with an intriguing name: Eye in the Dark. Credit the actor's son, Mingus, now 16, with coming up with the artistic name when he was a child.
"He named him that because we had black floors and he was a black kitten. And I said, 'What are you going to name him?' And he said, 'I'm going to name him Eye in the Dark, because I can only see his eyes,' " Reedus says.
The Walking Dead, a place where survivors don't appear to have time to take care of cats, is down to two remaining episodes for Season 6, with the penultimate episode coming Sunday (AMC, 9 p.m. ET/PT).
