ART IN FOCUS: Ricardo Romero, CAT #000

Posted by Donna on 21st November, 2025
Filed under: From the Street

High above the rooftops of Leiria and Setúbal, Ricardo Romero’s black cat pauses mid-step. One paw lifted. Body in motion. Neither arriving nor leaving. Over time, the figure has become part of the skyline itself — watched, photographed, quietly claimed by the city.

First appearing in Leiria in 2019 as Olhar e não Ver (To Look and Not See), the cat began as a question rather than a monument. The artist explains …

In fact, it all began with the location of the work and with a subtle provocation aimed at the 19th-century Portuguese writer, Eça de Queirós.

For a while, Eça lived in Leiria, in a house located right next to where the sculpture was installed. It was there that he wrote one of his great works, The Crime of Father Amaro. It is said that he had a strong superstition about black cats, especially one that lived near his home.

I appropriated that metaphor to question the viewer about what they ‘truly see’ or ‘choose to see’.

Placed just out of reach, it asked viewers not simply to look up, but to consider what they were choosing to see. The reference was local, but the gesture was universal.

The raised paw is the key. It introduces hesitation. A pause between frames. The sculpture never settles. Carried by wind to another place. That sense of movement is what keeps the work alive — not as an image, but as a presence.

With CAT #000, Romero translates the monumental into the intimate. The scale shifts, but the tension remains. The form is slightly stylised, the finish restrained, the movement intact. What once inhabited rooftops now enters the private sphere — carrying with it the altitude, the silence, and the weight of being observed.

Artwork details

This debut collector’s edition marks Ricardo Romero’s first sculptural work produced in series. Conceived and made by the artist in collaboration with GraffitiStreet Gallery, CAT #000 extends the life of the black cat beyond the street.