For some time now I've been asked to write a little something about this work by the collector who owns it. I finally did take the time and wound up writing something just short of my life story. I composed it on Google documents and downloaded it as pdf, which I then uploaded to Issuu.

The question remains: What does it all mean? 
While I had set out to make this a tribute to the Vienna School, the subtitle Snakes and Ladders also alludes to the Game of Life, as in the words of Salman Rushdie (Midnight’s Children):
All games have morals; and the game of Snakes and Ladders captures, as no other activity can hope to do, the eternal truth that for every ladder you hope to climb, a snake is waiting just around the corner, and for every snake a ladder will compensate. But it's more than that; no mere carrot-and-stick affair; because implicit in the game is unchanging twoness of things, the duality of up against down, good against evil; the solid rationality of ladders balances the occult sinuosities of the serpent; in the opposition of staircase and cobra we can see, metaphorically, all conceivable oppositions, Alpha against Omega, father against mother.

This has also been posted on a tab, with additional links to downloads HERE

The book 'Encyclopaedia of Fernal Affairs' will be launched at the inaugural exhibition of THE GARDEN OF FERNAL DELIGHTS taking place at the Bash Gallery in San Francisco on May 29th 2015

Press Release - published on Issuu

Vernissage: June 17, 2015 - Finissage: June 24, 2015 
These events are always a fun party time at the openings, but there will also be a finissage, party all over again! 

Speckbacherstrasse 1, 2673 Breitenstein

This is in connection with the 19th Annual New Visions Painting Seminar, 
held in Reichenau, Austria

I will be showing this charcoal/charcoal wash work, completed only recently:

Find below the text from the original e-mail I received  in German, and  the translation in English

Deutsch
Negativer "Stern" Artikel über Ernst Fuchs

Liebe Ernst Fuchs-Freunde!

Wir sind schockiert über den unwahren und diffamierenden Artikel im deutschen "Stern" über den angeblich verwahrlosten Zustand von Ernst Fuchs. Es ist unglaublich, dass sich eine einst angesehene Zeitschrift wie der "Stern" die Liebenswürdigkeit von Ernst Fuchs ausnützend und jeden journalistischen Kodex ignorierend, zu so einer Berichterstattung herablässt. Es wurde nicht einmal davor zurückgeschreckt, Ernst Fuchs im Schlaf zu fotografieren.

Kein Wunder, dass sich die Auflage dieses "Nachrichten-Magazines" in den vergangenen Jahren praktisch halbiert hat.

Wir haben am Erscheinungstag der Verleumdungs-Geschichte sofort Journalisten kontaktiert und sie eingeladen, Ernst Fuchs spontan zu besuchen. Die Reporter der "Krone", des "Kurier" und der Tageszeitung "Österreich" sind unserer Einladung gefolgt und konnten sich davon überzeugen, dass es Ernst Fuchs gut geht, und dass er umgeben von seiner Kunst und seinem Lebenswerk ein selbstbestimmtes Leben führen kann, wie es vielen anderen Menschen in seinem Alter leider nicht möglich ist. Die Artikel haben wir an diesen Blog angehängt.

Wir schreiben Dir/Ihnen diese Zeilen in erster Linie, um eure/Ihre möglicherweise bestehenden, aber wie gesagt unberechtigten Sorgen zu zerstreuen, sollten Sie den unwahren Artikel gelesen haben. Der Artikel ist derartig tendenziös geschrieben, dass er sich selbst diskreditiert und jedes detaillierte Kommentar überflüssig macht.

Wir möchten Sie aber auch wissen lassen, dass sich Ernst Fuchs und seine Familie diese entwürdigende, gegen alle Regeln des Anstandes verstoßende, öffentliche Diffamierung nicht gefallen lassen wird und dass nach Konsultation eines anwaltlichen Spezialisten alle anwendbaren rechtlichen Schritte unverzüglich eingeleitet werden.

Im Namen der Familie Fuchs

Dear Ernst Fuchs-Friends!

We are shocked by the false and defamatory article in the German "Stern" on the allegedly neglected state of Ernst Fuchs. It's incredible that a once prestigious magazine as the "Stern" would take advantage of the kindness of Ernst Fuchs, ignoring every journalistic Code and stooping to such a coverage. They did not even shy away from taking pictures of Ernst Fuchs in his sleep.

No wonder that the editions of this "news magazine" were practically halved in the last few years.

We immediately contacted journalists on the day of publication of this defamation story and invited them to visit Ernst Fuchs spontaneously. The reporters of the "Krone", of the "Kurier" and of the daily newspaper "Österreich" have accepted our invitation and were able to convince themselves that Ernst Fuchs is well, and that surrounded by his art and his life's work he can lead an independent life, which for many other people of his age is not possible. The items we attached to this blog.

We are writing these lines to you in the first place,to dispel your possibly existing, but as we said unwarranted worries, should you have read this untrue article. The article is so tendentiously written that it discredits itself, and any detailed comment is superfluous.

But we would also like you to know that Ernst Fuchs and his family will not tolerate this degrading, contrary to all rules of decency, public defamation and that after consultation with a specialist lawyer all the applicable legal steps will be taken immediately.

On behalf of the Fuchs family

A 3D printing exhibition in Toronto is showcasing the beautiful and innovative work created by the world's top 3D designers.

Presented by Canada's Design Exchange, the 3DXL: A Large-Scale 3D Printing Exhibition is the first of its kind in the country.
Read more - CBC News: 
3D printing's 'incomprehensible' beauty on display in Toronto

Otto Rapp with friends Kathrina Sofie and Benedetto Fellin re-visiting the Exhibition of Rosenmädchen Gerlinde Zickler's collaboration with 14 artists worldwide "In Pulse of Life". 
Showing in the Minoritenkloster Tulln from April 25. to May 24. 2015.

watch this slide show full screen in new window!