Inspired by “Young Hare” by Albrecht Durer and “Tragic Rabbit” poem by Stan Rice

 

Many influences went into this painting. I was reading Watership Down, a book about rabbits and their journey to freedom and “Tragic Rabbit,” a poem by Stan Rice, the husband of author, Anne Rice. My aim was to render his fictional description and to make it a real object. The Velveteen Rabbit is a children’s story about a stuffed rabbit that becomes real through love. I couldn’t make a real rabbit, but I could create a real painting through my honest emotion. I was going through some very angry and fearful feelings, so my paint strokes are broad and gestural, with dripping and scratching into the surface. 

 

In retrospect I think the poem appealed to me because I saw myself in the rabbit that was imprisoned in a two-dimensional plane. The rabbit is pinned into position by the square panes that divide him. Crosshairs in the center complete the rabbit trap. The poem is very dark in tone and I still don’t know what it means. So I wasn’t painting the poem, only the painting that I saw in the poem. 

 

Tragic rabbit, a painting.
The caked ears green like rolled corn….
A painting on my wall, alone

 

You too can be a tragic rabbit; green and red
your back, blue your manly little chest…

—From “Tragic Rabbit” by Stan Rice