The mythology of Western art is full of stories about the “secrets” of the old masters—the special recipes, techniques, tools, and machines that incredulous viewers assume must account for the production of the great masterpieces. Today the cultivation of weird recipes seems to have become an end in itself—which may explain the proliferation of unconventional media and methods. No wonder the viewer of contemporary art so often feels like an initiate who is being let in on a secret.

Keith Tyson (b. 1969) both celebrates and parodies this state of affairs. He says his prolific output of mixed-media

A cat is one of the first things we learn to draw. One circle placed on another, topped off with two inverted Vs: a body, a head, and a pair of ears. It is simple to produce and eminently readable as schema, caricature, and sign rolled into one. Alongside the rectangular house, with smoking chimney, four windows, and garden path leading to the central front door, it stands as evidence of a child’s initiation into the realm of representation.

Margarita Gluzberg has drawn such a cat. It is a creature of fantasy. The two circles are provided by a figure eight, or infinity sign, and the ears stick