This is a cat frantically trying to escape from a bald man’s anus. The man seems downright elated about this situation. The smile on his face could be seen as the ecstasy accompanying the gratification of an unspeakably perverse sexual fantasy. Or perhaps the self-aware smirk of a frat boy preemptively reveling in the meme-fame he is anticipating as the result of this stunt performed for the virtual panopticon. Though the intentions of the image’s author remain tantalizingly opaque in regards to the human figure, it is clear the feline co-star’s expression can only be read as one of terrified desperation. As such, if this tableau were to be interpreted as a sexual fantasy, the fetish depicted would be thoroughly sadistic and thoroughly masochistic with equal depravity. And as whatever CGI-animal-rights group would already be incensed at this display of virtual anal cruelty, we as viewers are left only with the hope that the cat had been digitally de-clawed.
This animation is the work of Chriddof—an enigmatic internet auteur whose oeuvre spans across multiple YoutTube channels, various deleted-then-reactivated-then-deleted-again social-media accounts, and numerous hard-to-authenticate blogs. Last year, Dangerous Minds did a thorough job researching the artist, whose real name is Chris Lyons. But even poking around their archive of sources, one encounters mostly broken links and accounts of dubious provenance. The domain chriddof.com itself appears to be a tribute archive of found, suspected work by Lyons, rather than the artist’s own website.
What can be gleaned from that wealth of content? A conflicted individual—seemingly alienated from both the mass-media he frequently parodies and the expectations of anatomical normativity. Chriddof’s figures are idealized humans contorted to fit the strangest mutilations and depravity dreamt up by the hive-mind of the Internet’s subconscious. “Perfect” male and female figures slowly morph into fleshy monstrosities or—as in the GIF I’m calling “Ass Cat”—are thrust together with one another and/or animals to create images far more monstrous. Forced to forever loop for a few short frames, we know “Ass Cat” will never escape its rectal prison, and that look of ecstasy will never fade from its captor’s face.
