Brother Rat is a mixed media artist primarily working with watercolor, graphite, pastel charcoal, and oil. His thematic emphasis draws its inspiration from juxtaposing the animal world with the great myths of world literature. Influenced by the works of Beatrix Potter, Aesop’s fables, and Richard Adams (Watership Down), brother Rats artwork exudes a fascination with the human condition as it wrestles with the matters of belonging and marginalization, faith and doubt, and the deconstruction of common religious assumptions. His work is thought- provoking, while reaching back to a more primal intelligence. It’s emotionally intimate, while echoing universal experience and nature’s indifference.
In describing one of his frequently painted subjects, the rat, Brother Rat says:
“I feel like the rat is a metaphor in a shallow aspect of those who are misunderstood, or who have negative stigmas attached to them. On a deeper level, I work with them as an allegory dealing with issues of religion, the undesired, the unloved, the unwanted, and those who in some cases are chastised for developing their own thoughts regarding a faith that is kept in a group doctrine.”
Brother Rat intends to continue exploring these questions. -David Morrison