1,600.00€ – 2,300.00€
Mixed media print on Hahnemühle German, 310gsm,
premium, acid free, lignin free paper
84.1cm x 59.4cm x 4cm
Strictly limited edition. 1-9
Oil, plaster and digital composition
Signed and stamped by the artist
Framed in light oak
Thoughtfully hand-crafted, natural framing
Catalogue reference: TS-jj002-1-9
This work is from the artists‘s 2023 series ‘Toy stories’, which utilises objects, notions, traits and memories typically associated with childhood to explore ideas of adulthood, learned culture and human behaviour. Here the existentialist toy rabbit represents the construction of ‘self’ from infancy-through-childhood by way of exposure to the natural and the nurtured. Factors and influences we are subject to along the way. Asking how much of ‘self’ do we have control to create and how much is pre-determined by our DNA versus the customs and family/societal conventions that are constructed for us and around us.
The rabbit is caught in a creative loop reminiscent of the paradoxical recursions seen in the staircases, waterfalls or self-illustrating hands (lithograph 1948) of the Dutch artists Maurits C Escher.
See DESCRIPTION below for more information about this work and artist’s notes.
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Artist’s notes:
While at one level Soft self-construction is an engaging surreal image of a oversized plush toy (which in some form-or-another is an integral character embedded in most childhoods) bringing itself to life it also aims to explore deeper questions of self-development and self-awareness. The rabbits is under construction—a work-in-progress. Only one ear and loose threads as it fixes its second eye. On the rabbit’s right foot is scribbled the name (owned by?) Sartre a reference to John-Paul Sartre the French philosopher and existentialist, a public intellectual heading a movement that proposed that human purpose was not provided by an etherial ‘designer’, gods, governments, or teachers. That there is no human nature in the sense of what humans are supposed to do and that we must fashion our own purpose and Raison d’être. The image also contains Kurt Lewin’s heuristic, behavioural formula B = f(P,E) as if written (either) on a scholarly blackboard or thoughtlessly graffitied across a wall. A direct reference to the German-American social, organisational psychologist famous for his work that states Behaviour is a function of the Person and their Environment.
The tools the rabbit requires are close at hand–indeed the soft-bodied rabbit is itself acting as an ideal surface for their easy retrieval. The pin cushion to keep essential implements and materials for required stitching and needlework. The plunging of the pins into a body (live or inert?) also playfully see-saws with the concepts of self image, and self harm as well as evoking thoughts of effigies and voodoo practices.
