natcat - chrome and strays

at has raised a lot of cats. Mostly strays, cats that wandered into his house, stayed, and he ended up looking after them.

That pretty much sums up why he makes what he makes, even if you wouldn’t necessarily guess it from looking at his work. His art is full of chrome, silver gradients and 3D renders that feel like they’ve come straight out of a forgotten Y2K screensaver, with cats at the centre of it all.

^{“I lost them over time. I just want to be kind to every cat, so my art is dedicated to them.”}

He works under the name natcat, out of Chanthaburi, a province about four hours east of Bangkok. He’s been on-chain for six years, but didn’t sell much during the boom and only really found an audience in 2024. He makes the music alongside his images, codes his own audiovisual software, and his website is built like a working Y2K desktop, complete with a recycle bin you can open.

In May, he played his first ever live show at a breakcore night in Bangkok, with his own visuals reacting to his own music on a wall behind him. He says he was impressed with himself, which, coming from someone who describes himself as shy and not very good at speaking, says a lot.

We asked him about all of it.

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Why cats?
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^{I am a cat lover. They are adorable. I have raised many cats, mostly stray cats that wandered into my house, so I took care of them. I lost them over time. I just want to be kind to every cat, so my art is dedicated to them, always capturing surreal stories in my work.}

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You've said you're obsessed with early 2000s design. Chrome, silver gradients, 3D renders that look like they came from a forgotten screensaver. You were born in 1998, so how much of that era do you actually remember, and how much is something you've reconstructed?
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<sup>I don't remember much. I grew up with the PlayStation 1, but the actual 3D chrome designs I saw were mostly in PlayStation 2-3 games, characters, and various artworks. Besides, my dad was into home audio systems; he often took me to audio shops with him to test equipment. Since as long as I can remember, I frequently saw this kind of design on CD and DVD players.

I only started really researching these design references two years ago. What I like most are the designs by Apple and Sony—both hardware and software—as well as eyewear brands like Oakley, which I'm wearing. Their designs from that era still look futuristic even today. In addition, I love sci-fi movies, manga, and anime; they are the inspiration behind my creative process.</sup>

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You make music, audiovisual work, 3D models and stock graphics. Is there one that pulls at you most, or does it all feel like the same thing?
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^{It all feels like the same thing to me. I'm into all of them. I often take the various elements I have, combine visuals and sound, and experiment with presenting them in different formats, both through digital media and live performances.}

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Six years on chain. How did you find crypto art, and what has selling on chain actually looked like over that time?
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‍^{I don't quite remember. Six or seven years ago, a crypto exchange company was established in Thailand. I learned about crypto and blockchain back then, coupled with the fact that I was looking for new channels to sell my digital art. That was when I discovered NFTs. It was a lot of fun; even though gas fees on ETH were high, people were still minting. I didn't sell very well during the peak of the NFT boom, until 2024 when my work received a lot of support on Zora. I attended Devcon 2024 and the Kismet Casa residency in Bangkok, which helped me gain more recognition.}‍

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You played fracture at Shadowplay in May. How did that feel, and will you do more of it?
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^{It was my first time performing live. I had a lot of fun and was really impressed with my own set. Seeing my visuals and music reacting to each other on a huge wall was truly amazing. Of course, I will have more live performances. A friend of mine invited me to perform at an event in Bangkok in October; it's not confirmed yet, but we are planning it.}

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What's the scene like in Bangkok for the stuff you do?^‍

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^{Bangkok has a pretty good art scene. Thai people and foreigners support each other very well, but the government doesn't support it much, so we mostly support each other. I am a digital nomad, but as you know, everything got worse this year and income hasn't been very good. I don't live in Bangkok, so I don't get to participate in the art scene very often. I live in Chanthaburi, an eastern province of Thailand about four hours away from Bangkok.}‍

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Your work has shown in São Paulo and Moscow. Were you there for either? And how did your work end up in a show on the other side of the world from Thailand?
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‍^{I didn't attend either, but I would love to see them with my own eyes. For São Paulo, @garbirl_koi—who is an artist, organizer, and curator—invited me to submit my work. As for Moscow, I wasn't there either, but I happened to have a friend who participated in the Kismet Casa residency with me living right there (@darkkpower), so she went to check it out and took pictures for me. I'm truly grateful to her. For the exhibition in Moscow, I was invited by @tsvelyy_soup, an artist I had previously collaborated with.}

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You wrote that you're still learning contemporary art practice and trying to get better at communicating what you actually mean, not just visually but conceptually. What's the hardest part?

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^{Communication. I am an introvert, shy, and not very good at speaking, so communication has always been the hardest part for me. I feel that my art can still communicate better, so I want to learn more about contemporary art, installation art, and performance art.}

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What are you listening to while you make all this?
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‍^{Lately, I usually listen to 2000s music genres like jungle, d&b, trance, etc.}

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‍Every cat he's ever lost is in there somewhere. Go and find one.

You can find natcat's work on Objkt and Zora, with more at natcatlover.com. Follow him at @natcatdotxyz.