|1993| CONTES DE LA PLEINE LUNE

Camphor wood (Kusuno Ki) and japanese lacquer (Urushi)

Variable dimensions

Sculptures made during the Tama life 21 International Symposium, Hinode, 1993, from June 6th to November 26th 1993. Funded by the Japan Foundation and the city of Tokyo.

The original title is Mangetsu Monogatari. It is a work that includes 5 rabbits-noses. The body-nose is inspired by Daruma, a funny Shinto god who has no arms, legs or eyes and who helps to grant wishes. The crazy ears evoke Kanji characters, the biggest one means full moon and the other 4 mean power, wild animal, center of the forest...

During the Symposium, I was thinking of sculpting bears, but I was told that the childhood animal in Japan is the rabbit (Usagi)! Moreover, in Japan, they say that when the moon is round, we see a pareidolia: a rabbit sitting down making rice (Mochi). The funny rabbits are carved from camphor wood, the smell was amazing and I couldn't help but smell. Hence no doubt the representation of the body-nose! For the color, I have used Urushi, a lacquer from a very old technique. You have to be very careful with this natural resin when applying it because it comes from a shrub that has the same properties as poison ivy!

The work has since been installed in the town hall of Hinode, the prefecture where the symposium was held.