RE: Rat Boy talks to Star. Illustrated poem
Ryan Bentzinger says his “heart fluttered” when he saw his watercolor paintings hanging in the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art’s first-floor galleries last week.
“I’m just in awe,” he says.
The 74 paintings from the first chapter of his post-apocalyptic tale, “nAMUH” — “human” spelled backward and pronounced “na-moo” — look entirely different in the galleries than taped to his studio walls in storyboard fashion.
They vary in size, because he likes to work big, but he also pulled back when characters were having smaller, sometimes single-word conversations between his post-human animal/monster/robots — based on his friends — living in a world nearly destroyed by humans.
“To see them framed and in chronological order and beautifully hung — you always have this idea in your head, and it definitely blew that idea out of the water,” says Bentzinger, 26, a Pella native now living in Iowa City. “I was very impressed and excited.
“This is my baby. I’ve been working on it for three years, and I feel that getting it presented — damn, I’m at a loss for words. It’s very inspiring and heartwarming, and it’s hard to believe it’s happening now.”