Continuing with the Sinister Shadow theatre (Page 49 of my transcription of Paula Rego’s ‘Snow White and her Stepmother’)
page 49
‘The German artist Katherina Fritsch’s powerful spatially dominant sculpture ‘Rattenkonig’ (Rat King) 1993 -94 is the product of a very ordinary experience which the artist had in a large city (at the back of New York Art institution). She finds herself in front of a large rathole. The idea was born for a ring of huge rats, geometrically linked to for a crown.
fritsch-ratking-
This awakens associations with the legends and stories of a circular tangle of knotted rats tails, a seat of infection and a demonic throng. Whereas the kind of rat found on the shelves of toy shops represents a ‘lovable cuddly copy’, the sexless 2.8 metre high creatures in the ‘Rottenkonig‘ installation resemble the immaterial simulation of computer design. Fritsch is fascinated with the English Arts and Crafts movement and she applies the ideology of enhancing perfect industrial and perfectly crafted products in her sculptures.’
Source: Uta Grosenick ‘Women Artists in the 20th and 21st Century’ Taschen 2001
Coincidentally, I saw this exhibition at the London Tate Modern in 2001 and was immediately struck by the similarity of page 48 of The Sinister Shadow Theatre (below)
page 48
The rest of the transcription;
