Water rat

Water rat is a rodent native in Australia that makes their home in lakes, ponds and river.
Paddling on the surface of the water, they probably look like platypus.

They have webbed hind legs and waterproof furs for swimming.
Their distinctive flat head with small eyes and ears and white-tipped tail are quite distinctively different from other types of rodents - looks somehow more similar to otters.

detail, Water rat

Rats are another recurring animal in my work after rabbits.

It's an animal I often drew as a child too.

Maybe it's because my parents often told me I was always running around like a rat! 

My Chinese zodiac being Rat used to help my parents' claim.

I also like imagining one day small animals like rats would take over the world and make their own kingdom, or form government. 

In retrospect, many of my works like Laputa II, Kitchen and Boss Rabbit prints from my collaborative works with Damon Kowarsky as well as some imageries from my artist books, are based on this idea of small animals taking over the world.

I didn't realise it at the time of making them, but this dark thought might be in my lurking in my subconscious secretly hoping this might happen one day....

original drawing of the Water rat

This is my last print of 2012. This print as well as 5 other prints from Melbourne Museum series will be exhibited at Japan Information and Culture Centre at Consulate-General of Japan in Melbourne in February in 2013.
What a year 2012, launched earlier this year and disappeared into space like a satellite and now it's orbiting around my head!