[An image from Amanda Parer's home page]
Gigantic inflated and illuminated rabbits by Australian artist Amanda Parer will make their debut in Asia next week at a public art project planned by South Korean retail giant Shinsegae to mark the opening of its mega shopping and resort complex.
Parer's nylon-sewn monument like sculptures will be housed in the complex of Starfield Hanam that will open on September 9 in Seoul's southern satellite city of Hanam.
The exhibition will run from September 5 through October 3 to display 12 inflatable white rabbits, illuminated in stark white light. The bunnies of "Intrude" stand tall at up to 15 meters.
The artist said Australia has become so overridden with rabbits that they are damaging other species. With that environmental problem in mind, she first created "Intrude" at a lights festival in 2014. Parer said the name is meant to be a metaphor for mankind's mismanagement of the environment.
The bunnies have invaded festivals around the world, but Starfield will be her first in Asia. Her hope has been that commuters, shoppers and park-goers will see the animal’s fun and furry side, as well as the installation’s underlying message of intrusion.
"In my artwork I aim to raise questions about the natural world and our place within it. I try to communicate this by using light and dark, humour and drama. I aim to entice my audience with beautiful, mostly feral creatures enlarged within their given habitats." she wrote on her home page," she said in a message on her home page.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com