Easter is coming and wherever you turn you'll spot classic Springtime iconography such as butterflies, birds and, obviously, bunnies.
Yet jewellery designer Ippolita Rostagno had a different bunny on her mind: the designer recently collaborated with the Brooklyn Museum and with sculptor and performance artist Nick Cave designing two charms inspired by Cave's "Bunny Boy Soundsuit".
Trained as a dancer and fashion designer, Cave is known for his soundsuits and performances in which intensely decorated costumes characterised by elaborate textiles and a wide variety of materials (the list is long and comprises satin and sequins, doilies, beads, fur, glitter, buttons, organic material like twigs and discareded toys or found objects...) offer watchers an enhanced visual and audible experience. When the wearer moves, the suits produce indeed unexpected sounds.
But there is a hidden meaning behind the costumes, conceived by the artist also as suits of armour: by wearing them a performer leaves behind his or her identity, race and gender. The suit becomes therefore a great leveler, since, as the artists highlights, "it hides gender, race, class" and forces you "to look at the work without judgement."
Cave donned the "Bunny Boy" suit in an eponymous video in which, wearing a bright pink bunny suit, he dances slowly and mysteriously in a darkened space.
The bunny theme also reappeared in a 2011 exhibition in New York in which the artist included a line of standing ivory fur covered Wookie-like creatures with long bunny-like ears ("Mating Season", 2011) that hinted at fertility.
Ippolita's luxury charms - in 18K rose gold and pink sapphires in a limited edition of 25 (priced at $5,000) or in 925 sterling silver and pink gemstones (priced at $400) - are directly linked with the "Bunny Boy" video as the figures have a dancing pose and retain a strong link with the power of sound as one of the charms seems to carry silver chains in its arms.
The charms were presented at the Brooklyn Museum's annual fundraising gala, the Artist's Ball, where Nick Cave is the 2019 honoree. They are available at the Brooklyn Museum, the brand's site and other selected retailers with all of the proceeds going to the museum.
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