Artist Statement
A prominent theme in my work is rats. The choice of the rat motif was seemingly random. It began as a reference to a quip my sister once made about our family looking like a poor, dirty rat pack, and I ran with that. I embraced the motif and made it “my thing.” I wanted to play with the dichotomy of the way rats are viewed. Most people associate them with poverty, disease, fear, but I see them as adaptable and resilient. They learn to thrive under the harshest of conditions.
When the tensions got too high back home I finally decided to move out, and when I moved out, three new children came to stay with my family. For a year I struggled with being on my own and feeling as if I was easily replaced. I didn’t know my new siblings at all, and I could feel my relationships with the other five fading. It wasn’t until I went home for the holidays that I got to talking with my youngest brother, and he asked me to bring home a really big canvas next time I came back. When I brought that canvas home, all nine of us took turns adding a layer. While that painting did not end up in Overcrowded & Discombobulated, it left a burning question in my mind: can painting mend a broken family?
Eli Koltanowski