An iconic character breaks into crisp geometry. In Adam Lister’s playful reinterpretation, Hello Kitty appears as a mosaic of pixel-like blocks, translating the familiar figure into the visual language of early digital graphics.
The bow-wearing kitten was created in 1974 by Yuko Shimizu for Sanrio and soon became a global emblem of kawaii. Cats, however, have long moved through Japanese imagination. In literature, the observing feline of Natsume Soseki narrates the satirical novel I Am a Cat, while medieval satire such as Choju-jinbutsu-giga fills its scrolls with mischievous animals.
In Hokusai Manga, begun years before the celebrated Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji (Lots 23 and 24), Katsushika Hokusai sketches cats with a few simple lines, much as they appear in Hello Kitty. Utagawa Kuniyoshi later expanded the theme with witty inventions such as Fifty-Three Cats, alongside warrior drama (Lot 11) and animated parody (Lot 38). The feline motif reappears in the imagery of Yokoo Tadanori (Lot 30) and the gentle fantasy of Totoro (Lot 32). When old brushwork meets digital blocks, a few lines still produce the world’s most recognizable cat.