Thomas Ott, From Scratch is a first survey of Ott’s multifaceted oeuvre, from the first works for the magazine Strapazin to the celebrated comic albums, such as Tales of Error, to animations and live-action films, and to the drawings from La Grande Famiglia and Das ottologische Zimmer that are embedded in installations. Ott is one of the most prominent illustrators and cartoonists worldwide. His works are represented in numerous collections and museums and his stories have been adapted for film. His blacker-than-black scrapeboard works combine a pictorial idiom oriented around film with nightmarishly dismal stories. His masterful guidance of the line and the opulent three dimensionality of the images scratched with the cutter form an oppressive contrast with the non-verbal character of the stories. The book, edited by Anette Gehrig, accompanies the exhibition of the same name at the Cartoonmuseum Basel from March to June 2025. Christoph Merian, 148pp, 24cm x 30cm, illustrated paperback, 2025
