Background
Rik Catlow (aka rikcat, b. 1970, Hoboken, New Jersey) is an Austin, Texas–based artist working in abstract mixed-media collage. His work blends the visual language of urban street art with a deep sense of nostalgia, drawing from mid-century illustration and design, vintage advertising, and classic cartoons from the 1930s through the 1950s.
Catlow's process often begins with unconventional materials, including crushed aluminum cans used as a canvas, layered with paper collage. These found surfaces introduce texture, history, and imperfection, reinforcing themes of reuse, cultural memory, and the collision of high and low visual culture. Influences range from advertising mascots and vintage magazines to skate culture, tiki imagery, and the raw energy of street art.
His work has been exhibited at La Luz de Jesus Gallery in Los Angeles and The Paley Center for Media in New York City. Catlow's art is held in the collection of 20th Century Fox (Family Guy) and by private collectors worldwide.
Through a balance of playful imagery and distressed surfaces, Catlow's work explores the tension between optimism and decay, commercial iconography and personal expression, creating compositions that feel both familiar and newly reassembled.
Selected Exhibitions & Publications
Select Clients
2026 Rik Catlow. All rights reserved.
