Simon Fujiwara Who Will Lead our Boys Away by the Sound of their Sweet, Sweet Song?, 2026

In Who Will Lead our Boys Away by the Sound of their Sweet, Sweet Song?, executed in acrylic, charcoal, and pastel on canvas, the Pied Piper appears in a jester’s cap, blowing his horn as a procession of boys follows behind—each absorbed in his phone—while rats scurry at their feet. The Pied Piper of Hamelin is a German legend, recorded by the Brothers Grimm, among others: hired to lure the town’s rats away with his tune, the piper, when refused payment, uses the same music to lead Hamelin’s children away, never to return. The painting recasts this figure of seductive evil: its piper leads boys astray with a sweet song that finds its equivalent in today’s online influencers of the so-called manosphere, who exploit the social needs of young men.