Miami-Born Artist Jessie Bowie Creates Weird, Wonderful Celebrity Mashups

All images courtesy of Jessie Bowie.

He's so mythical.

Picture Kanye West and Aziz Ansari. Picture them in their natural states, Kanye sporting shades and Aziz in the midst of a manic episode.

Now picture them as cats. Best friend cats.

Weird? Perhaps. But weirdness is Jessie Bowie's business. This Miami-born artist paints intriguingly bizarre celebrity-animal mash-ups and sells them to eager buyers via Etsy. The bizarrely adorable paintings have achieved a level of Internet fame recently, with features on blogs like BuzzFeed.

Best friend cats.

Bowie can wield a needle, too, and also creates stuffed monsters out of old clothes. These include gems like the "Banana Man Monster in Easter Outfit" and "Green Alien in Tropical Shorts".

Born in Miami, Bowie grew up in Pembroke Pines, then moved to Sarasota where she honed her painting skills at the Ringling College of Art. Now she sells her unique creations to offbeat art appreciators worldwide.

We spoke to her about anthropomorphism, other people's weirdness, and some David Bowie and Prince spooning action.

Cultist: Your name. Any relation to David?
Jessie Bowie: Haha, I wish!

Your creations are unique, to say the least. What inspired you to start putting celeb heads on animal bodies? And to create banana monsters and other such cuddly creatures?
I mean, anthropomorphism has been around forever but my reason for mixing heads and bodies is basically my need to be silly. I have a hard time just painting a full nude of Brad Pitt or whatever. I gotta throw in an element of surprise to keep myself entertained. I really enjoy sewing, but I'm definitely not a pro. So sewing bananas and narwhals is great practice and have made really excellent gifts. Sometimes I just have a sweater I want to get rid of and I think, Jeez, that would make a great hot dog. That's how a lot of my creations get started.