Statement of Intent
The Black Cat Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, is a space to be fueled with positive, beautiful, intelligent, and original cutting edge art. According to the Black Cat, art is comprised of all forms of creative ingenuity; fine art, performance art, fashion, music, spoken word, theatre, etc. In short, if it blesses the earth and it comes from your heart we want to promote it.

Inspirations & Beginnings
Ever since art school in 1990, I dreamt of a place where my friends and I would show our work in an environment that was alive and warm. The galleries I had experienced were quite often like hospitals without personnel. I would leave feeling unseen, ignored, uninspired and in need of some sort of uplifting pill. In 1993 Terrell Moore befriended me by letting me practice my drums in his Venice Westminster Garage studio/gallery while he painted. In return, I helped him put on art and music shows in his space — the essential core of the Venice underground art scene. This scene was incredibly inspiring. I was at Terrell's more than he cared for but it was impossible for me to stay away. I rented an adjacent studio, and soon Terrell gave me my first one man show and my work started selling.

Around this time I met Roger Ray, owner of Purple Gallery in Mar Vista. Purple had so much going on — complete with a calendar of events each month of art, theater, film, and music events. Even though Roger was battling a deadly illness, he gave me a show and gave it his all. Roger Ray rocks. The Purple Gallery was another inspiring example of a friendly environment with great up-and-coming art and music. (The Purple boy is now completely restored, is painting, and has opened Limbo. Fine Art Gallery in San Diego)

Sadly, everyone lost their spaces in the same year: 1998. Within three months our community vanished as production companies moved to the west side and the artists were uprooted. I was homeless for nearly eight months, sleeping at friends' houses. In 1999, Aurelito Mercado and Kjell Hagen at Inshallah Art Gallery in downtown gave me a full retrospective show consisting of 42 paintings. My band, Sea Spider, performed at the opening. Auerlito and Djell were immensely kind and wonderful to work with. Like Westminster Garage and Purple, Inshallah had a warm, house vibe featuring young artists. They even featured DJ's and bands that performed on an elevated platform above the art. Later that year, I moved to Silverlake to be a part of the downtown scene and the Hollywood Darkwave/Gothic music scene. I met and later married an Cal Arts graduate, actress, and goth princess, Rainbow Underhill.

Throughout, I missed the ocean. The people were great on the east side, but the ocean really has a way of giving me peace. I was having trouble sleeping — I wasn't sleeping. One day in late 2001 I sold a large painting on the west side to new collectors who paid me cash on the spot. I was driving down Washington Blvd on my way home and saw a space for rent with studio/gallery potential. Three days later the cash paid the lease and we christened the west side space the Black Cat Gallery.

Our love of black cats spurred the adoption of Viscous, our gallery tenant and icon.

I worked for several months renovating the space with immense help form my grandfather, Herbie, father, David, and Roger Ray.

The inaugural show at the Black Cat Gallery was June 1, 2002, and consisted of a three man show consisting of works by Roger Ray, Jeremy Fred Jenny, and myself, Timohty Williams. Since then, the gallery continues to grow and gain local acclaim.

— Timothy