“Ira is cynical without lacking empathy, experimental without lacking direction. A dark, ambitious new voice.” – Garret Cook (Author, Crisis Boy)

about
ira rat works and lives in Ames, IA.

artist statement
My work explores the relationship between postmodern discourse and brutalist ethics. With influences as diverse as Jandek and Steve Gutenberg, new synergies are generated from both orderly and random discourse.

Ever since I was a pre-adolescent I have been fascinated by the essential unreality of meaning. What starts out as yearning soon becomes corroded into a carnival of futility, leaving only a sense of failing and the inevitability of a new synthesis.

As intermittent phenomena become distorted through emergent and diverse practice, the viewer is left with an insight into the edges of our future.

connect
email: eyerarat@gmail.com
social media: facebook – twitter

Books
fiction
Pacifier
Participation Trophy
Learned Animals (Chapbook)

poetry
Juvenilia

non-fiction
Beginner’s Guide to Extreme Horror (w/ Jon Steffens)

art
i’m sorry mom

edited by Ira Rat
F•cked Up Stories 1
F•cked Up Stories 2
F•cked Up Stories 3
Teenage Grave
Little Birds
Isolation is Safety

anthology/zine appearances
Rock’n’Roll Horror Zine Vol. 1
Sniffing Ants Zine Vol. 1
Deep Fried Horror (April, 2019)

online work
Philosophical Idiot
Misery Tourism
Bizarro Central

music
Solo
Neon Lushell
W/ Richard Shirk
Tape Ends
Vicar Elm