September 18, 2014

Hofman’s giant rabbit burnt by accident

Filed under: Art by Orangemaster @ 1:31 pm

Rotterdam-based Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, known for his giant yellow rubber ducks and huge plush toys around the world, has had his big bunny rabbit in Taiwan burnt by mistake.

Firefighters claim that the fire which torched the 24-metre-tall rabbit, created for the annual Taoyuan Land Art Festival, was ignited by welding sparks from workers disassembling festival structures nearby. Local authorities might seek compensation from contractors for the blaze.

Commissioned by the Taiwanese government, Hofman’s latest installation project had been hugely popular, with more than two million visitors to the festival paying a visit to the giant rubber mammal. The ‘moon rabbit’ is a symbol of altruism and love in the legend of the Chinese Mid-Autumn festival, which took place on September 8.

Other fun creations by Hofman include big slow slugs and a festive aardvark (picture above).

(Link: www.scmp.com, Photo: www.florentijnhofman.nl)

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September 24, 2013

Festive aardvark celebrates the city of Arnhem

Filed under: Art by Orangemaster @ 12:40 pm

Rotterdam’s Florentijn Hofman does it again in a big way, this time in a festive manner with the ‘Feestaardvarken’ (‘Party aardvark’) made mostly of metal and concrete.

The Feestaardvarken is a 30-metre-long concrete sculpture which looks like an abstract aardvark with a golden party hat. The work was made specifically for this site and commissioned by Burgers’ Zoo and is a present for the 100th year anniversary of the zoo to the city of Arnhem.

‘Party aardvark’ is a play on words of ‘feestvarken’ (‘party pig’ in Dutch), while aardvark is an Afrikaans word also used in English meaning ‘earth pig’.

(Link and photo: www.florentijnhofman.nl)

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