Nadia Naveau
Mr Bunnykin’s Autumn Days is a titillating work that prompts us to ask questions and that, despite its size, is monumental in the way we have come to expect of Naveau’s work. The title refers to the rabbit in a scout’s uniform on top of the little tree house. The battered porcelain figurine dates from the 1930s. ‘It stood on our mantelpiece for years’, Naveau says. ‘My partner is British and his aunt is an ardent admirer of the scouts. The rabbit is their mascot. Yes, it’s a bit battered – one ear is missing – but that’s what I like about it.’ The tree house came first, and a few years later she added the figurine, which made the image stronger. The play with scale, the small rabbit in the big tree house, gives this modestly-sized work great power of attraction. At the lower edge of the figurine it says ‘Be Prepared Bunnykins’, which was also the title of Naveau’s exhibition at the Base-Alpha Gallery in 2012.