To Breathe the Pale and Shining Moon
⊛ To Breathe the Pale and Shining Moon
⊛ 10 x 8 in • 254 x 203 mm
⊛ cut paper + washi + chiyogami / wood
⊛ private collection
I was tasked, almost a year ago, with the daunting task of making the rabbit sexy.
You see, my incomparable wife is a rabbit; or at least of the year of the Rabbit. Among a handful of other adjectives, "sexy" struck me as the least bunny-like. This, despite the rabbit being a long-time symbol of fertility, birth, and rebirth. I think there might even be a contemporary phrase which references the rabbits' reproductive proclivities. But... sexy? Without resorting to prying open a copy of Playboy?
Here in Japan, there is no man in the moon. There is, rather, a rabbit. Making mochi. All of which got me thinking about the waxing and the waning of the lunar orb, the traditional feminine symbolism of the moon, the fertility of those bunnies, and breath as life. Toss all those into my mental blender and here you go.
The rabbit is the fourth animal in the Chinese (and Japanese) zodiac.
This particular rabbit got snapped up pretty quick at the New Moon show at myplasticheart, but I believe there may still be a Tigger in need of a den.
Woe be me to not plug my other show, Outside, Looking In, at CAVE gallery as well.
Finally, a quick shout out to Mayuko Fujino, who has recently been schooling me on how to build a sexy bunny (some of these may be a tad NSFW)