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Artist Reviews:
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Artist Statement for Socar Myles
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Artist statement: Why paint rats?
If there's a question I get asked more than any other, this is it. Why rats? Well, first off, I like them, both as companion animals and as subjects for drawing. They can twist their little bodies into all sorts of different positions, and they often stay in those positions long enough to get in a quick sketch. The main reason I choose to draw rats over any other domestic animal, however, is that they have a lot of very human characteristics. Their front paws, for instance, look much like tiny, half-thumbed hands. (Rats only have a small nub where the thumb would be on a person.) You'll never see a dog or a cat standing up on its hind legs holding a piece of food in its hand. But rats do that sort of thing all the time. They use their 'hands' in much the same way that people do, which gives them a lot of disquietingly human mannerisms.
I like to insert rats into common artistic scenarios that are usually reserved for humans. I have a picture of a rat staring sadly into the sunset, for instance, and another of a rat navigating a small boat across a stormy sea. Exchanging the usual human subject for a rat gets people to take a second look, and even consider an ordinary scene in a new light. The oddity is intended to prevent viewers from instantly categorizing my pictures, and comparing them to others they've seen before. I consider my work successful when people see it hanging on the wall and stop to say 'What the hell?'.
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