After officially entering the Year of the Rabbit, I found that we were already surrounded by countless cute rabbits. Whether it is the jade rabbit essence in "Journey to the West" that accompanies us growing up, or the Miffy rabbit who is ubiquitous in stationery, or the flexible, agile, lively and cheerful bugs bunny, countless images created based on rabbits warm our growth path and enrich our childhood memories.
The meek and cute rabbit often represents wit, agility and kindness, and the diverse and complex personality traits have also brought inspiration to countless artists, who find the motivation for creation from the rabbit image, and give the rabbit different images and profound meanings with painting, sculpture, installation and other artistic means, triggering people's thinking about the environment, aesthetics and art.
While we also commonly recognize rabbits as well-behaved and cute little pets, the artist materializes them in an exaggerated and amplified way, breaking people's daily imagination while introducing creative aesthetics to public space.
As an invasive species in Australia, rabbits have caused serious damage to the original Australian ecosystem with amazing fecundity. Inspired by this, local artist Amanda Parer enlarged the image of the rabbit dozens of times in the giant light art installation "Intrude Family", presenting the rabbit in an extraordinary visual proportion, which exceeds the audience's visual cognition.
In front of the giant inflatable rabbit, humans also become small .
In this way, she tells the story of the confrontation between the human world and alien species with strong visual humor, and she tries to arouse the public to think about the relationship between ecological balance and natural co-prosperity, and advocate the concept of sustainable development.
The appearance of everyday objects in enlarged shapes can also arouse curiosity. Florentijn Hofman, an artist known for "Yellow Duck", has also created a giant public artwork of "Yellow Rabbit". Through this super-scale sculpture, Hoffmann challenges the function and purpose of the public space, and the 13-meter-tall yellow rabbit becomes the focus of the open square, exploring the concepts of scale and urban perspective. Made from locally produced shingles and other materials, this modern sculpture depicts a giant stuffed rabbit accidentally dropped in the heart of a Swedish square.
Big Yellow Rabbit 2011
In 2022, Hoffman created a new multicolored handstand rabbit installation at Taikoo Hui Plaza in Nanjing. Strange shapes, colorful colors, enlarged shapes attract everyone passing by, and also create a strong festive atmosphere and activate people's joy and well-being.
The image of the rabbit is also inextricably linked to popular culture, and artists associate the meaning of the rabbit with social groups and personality traits to express their views on the world. Pop artist Andy Warhol once created Bunny Multiple using the Playboy logo.
Founded in the 50s, the Playboy brand is an iconic part of American pop culture, and its logo was designed by designer Art Paul and is well known to the American public. In fact, the elements of the playboy trademark are highly related to the iconographic meaning of the rabbit in classical painting, they all symbolize the classical meaning of "reproduction", and the bow tie is a symbol of status and wealth. In Warhol's work, the rabbit is not an important element throughout, as a symbol, it is aimed at the group most closely related to the culture of the Playboy brand, so the use of the logo is more aimed at the cultural attributes behind it.
Andy Warhol, "Bunny Multiple"
The legendary painter Van Gogh also used the image of a rabbit in his paintings to express the beauty and happiness he felt in the world. In 1889, he created the oil painting "Two Rabbits in the Field", which shows the ingenious flexibility of the two rabbits through Van Gogh's characteristic warm lines and bright yellow. The two rabbits do not rotate to deform with the changing lines around them, but their shape is normally in the center of the picture, allowing people to see these two cute little rabbits at a glance. This also symbolizes that Van Gogh, who has hesitated in pain all his life, also felt the beauty of the world on the cute rabbit, and also means that although his life was difficult in the later stage of creation, he had a warm and enthusiastic view of the world.
Two Rabbits in the Field, Van Gogh, circa 1889, now in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands
How to present depicted objects on canvas in more realistic images has also been one of the directions that many painters strive for. The German painter Albrecht Dürer painted a painting of the Hare in 1502, which is comparable to a photographic work. The fur of the hare is oriented in different directions, and the color of the rabbit fur is light or dark, which is both different and very similar. In completing the painting, Dürer conducted an exhaustive, almost scientific study of the hare. He sketches the hare with a brush, and then he patiently traces the texture of the fur with a variety of dark and light watercolor strokes, and then adds some delicate details to make the whole hare more vivid and vivid.
Hare Watercolor 25.1×22.6cm 1502
From a Western aesthetic point of view, the rabbit figure in The Virgin and the Rabbit, created by Titian Vecellio, is one of the most childlike and natural images in religious painting. The pure white of the rabbit complements the green costume of the Virgin, making the picture harmonious and focused. The most touching thing about this painting is that the Virgin caresses the white rabbit with her left hand, symbolizing that the childhood Christ is associated with pets.
The Virgin and the Rabbit, by Titian Vecellio, circa 1530, now in the Louvre
Compared with the pursuit of realism in the West, traditional Chinese painting focuses more on shape. Qing Dynasty Leng Yuan's "Wutong Double Rabbit Picture" should be a very representative painting. In the crisp autumn sky, in the vast and quiet courtyard, two white rabbits rest, they are leisurely, dignified, like a pair of friendship and sincere companions. The shape of the double rabbit in the painting is accurate, and the image is vivid and realistic; The fur is smooth and textured. The rabbit's eyes are reflected with white, and the eyes appear crystal transparent.
Qing, cold coin, silk color of "Wutong Double Rabbit Diagram", collection of the Palace Museum
Qing, Liu Kuiling, "Walking Beast Scroll"
Ming, Liu Xuehu, "Xuemei Tu Axis"
Ming, Chen Zun, "Guizhong Jade Rabbit Scroll"
Qi Baishi, "Osmanthus White Rabbit Vertical Shaft"
"Golden City Osmanthus Double Rabbit Shaft"
From the nursery rhyme "Little white rabbit, white and white, two ears up" that everyone can sing to Peter Rabbit and Bugs Bunny in the comics, rabbit comics with different images can be said to have accompanied the childhood of countless people. We learn from them a sense of adventure, a yearning for a bigger world, and a great motivation for the support of our peers. The images of rabbits in these comics make up our childhood memories.
Bugs Bunny, the main character of the animated series Bugs Bunny, also translated as Binny Bunny, Bugs Bunny or Baby Bunny, was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1938, according to his date of birth. At the same time, Warner Bros. in the United States also published a book of the same name. Arrogant demeanor, out-of-the-box life, and an overflowing sense of superiority are Bugs Bunny's distinctive character.
How many people spend their weekends in the joyful wits fight between Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck?
Peter Rabbit is a 1902 image created by British female writer and illustrator Beatrix Potter, and is the earliest anime rabbit image that can be seen. Peter Rabbit is the pioneering work of European and American picture storybooks, which have been selling well for more than a century, and have built a century classic in the history of children's books in the world. Later, films, animations, etc. based on Peter Rabbit were also launched.
Owning a Peter Rabbit doll used to be the dream of many children
Miffy Rabbit is a classic animated character created in 1955 by Dutch picture book writer Dick Bruner, which is loved by children all over the world. Bruner always likes to use simple lines and a few colors to create the fairy tale world he has in mind, and Miffy Rabbit is his classic image, which is still very tall today.
The Miffy Rabbit co-branded edition was once the most trendy stationery for children
Compared with other animals, rabbits can be said to capture a large number of ages, and everyone can find a favorite place from rabbits. The cute, pure appearance is heartwarming, and the alert, lively nature has become a totemic symbol we worship. Looking at the rabbit image from the artist's point of view, diverse and diverse, it is these visions full of unlimited imagination that make the rabbit image shine in the long river of time.
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