Rattenfanger

The story of the Ratcatcher of Hamelin, known in the English-speaking world as the Pied Piper, is well-known. It is also quite sinister.

The idea for this piece started with the radical curvilinear perspective to give a sort of rat’s eye view. It’s you he is calling after him.

“Rattenfanger” simply means “ratcatcher” in German.

This painting also has quite a history… it got unstuck from support twice, which is why I now stretch watercolor paper with staples, not glue tape; then it got crushed when someone placed my heavy backpack on top of the scroll (on the last leg of a journey from abroad, too); and after it had been redrawn, re-stretched, and painting under way, some silverfish gnawed on it at night, leaving me completely puzzled about the weird damage. Perhaps the Rattenfanger’s curse was on it…