Bird and Cat by SOAL Studio: Who Is Upside Down?

Bird and Cat by SOAL Studio is a graphic art print of a bird hanging upside down in one corner and a cat sitting calmly in the other. Neither of them appears remotely concerned about the other. The print asks a question it never answers, and most people who stop in front of it end up answering it for themselves.

Bird and Cat is an art print by SOAL Studio, first released at NOKUKO in January 2025. It shows an upside down bird and a seated cat on a dense patterned ground. Two colour editions are available, Sun and Moon, in three sizes, printed on Fine Art Freja paper at 265 g.

Who Is Upside Down Depends on Where You Are Standing

The bird is inverted relative to the viewer, and it is the calmer of the two. It hangs by two thin legs that run up and out through the top of the frame, so whatever it is holding onto sits outside the picture entirely. Because the bird is the wrong way up, its eyes end up below its beak, small and half closed. The beak itself is one fat curve. A few zigzags mark the head. Nothing about the bird reads as distress.

The cat sits lower right, upright and settled, whiskers out, tail curled forward into a loop that almost closes on itself. Its face is turned towards us, but the pupils are pushed to one side, towards the corner where the bird is. It has noticed. It has decided this is fine.

The picture holds two versions of ordinary in the same frame and declines to rank them. We read the bird as upside down because we are standing on the floor. From where the bird hangs, we are the ones facing the wrong way. The artwork never resolves this, and that refusal is the whole piece.

Sun and Moon Are the Same Scene in Two Lights

Bird and Cat comes in two colour editions, Sun and Moon, and they are one drawing rather than two different pictures. Sun runs on a warm yellow ground crossed by an orange line pattern, with a deep aubergine cat marked in blue grey stripes and a green bird with a red beak. Moon drops the same scene into deep blue, the line pattern lifting a shade brighter, the cat turning pale sage with a sand coloured outline and gold eyes, the bird turning pink with a light blue beak.

Every shape stays exactly where it was. The cat keeps its posture, the bird keeps its hold, the pattern keeps its path across the sheet. What changes is the hour. Choosing between them is less a choice of picture than a choice of which time of day you want the room to keep. They also hang together well, and the two sit side by side on the same wall in one of the photographs on the product page.

A Retro Modern Print That Can Carry a Wall on Its Own

Bird and Cat is flat graphic colour from edge to edge, which makes it a print that works as the loudest thing in a room rather than a quiet accent. The ground is an all over wandering line, closer to coral or a maze than to any texture, and it covers the full sheet without a gradient or a shadow anywhere. The style is deliberately retro modern, and the friction between the vintage palette and the very contemporary drawing is a large part of why the piece holds attention.

The print is offered in three sizes, 30x40 cm, 50x70 cm and 70x100 cm, on Fine Art Freja paper at 265 g. The SOAL Studio signature sits low on the left of the artwork. As with every print sold at NOKUKO, a tree is planted for each one.

If you like work that sits in an unresolved state rather than settling it, Unknown Feather by SOAL Studio holds a similar position between light and dark. Bird and Cat itself was first introduced in January 2025, alongside On The Beach.

A bird hangs. A cat sits. Between them is a whole field of pattern and nothing that looks like it is about to happen.

Hang it somewhere people wait, and it will start the same conversation more than once.

About Bird and Cat by SOAL Studio

What paper is Bird and Cat printed on?
It is printed on Fine Art Freja paper at 265 g, the heavier art paper NOKUKO uses for illustration prints. The artwork is flat graphic colour across the whole sheet, so the paper has to hold large unbroken areas of yellow or deep blue without mottling them.

What sizes does Bird and Cat come in?
Three sizes, 30x40 cm, 50x70 cm and 70x100 cm. The composition is the same in all three, with the bird high in the left corner and the cat low on the right. Frames shown in the photographs are for illustration and are not included.

What is the difference between the Sun and Moon editions?
They are the same drawing in two palettes. Sun runs on a yellow ground with an orange line pattern, a deep aubergine cat and a green bird with a red beak. Moon runs on deep blue with a brighter blue line, a pale sage cat and a pink bird with a light blue beak. Every shape sits in the same place in both.

Is Bird and Cat signed, and is it a limited edition?
Every print is marked with the SOAL Studio signature, which appears low on the left of the artwork. It is not sold as a numbered limited edition, so no certificate of authenticity is issued with it. The Sun and Moon editions are the only two versions made, and a tree is planted for every print sold.

Written by NOKUKO.