Notes

“I would be tempted to say that Guy du Toit’s hares are anthropomorphised beings, but this would do a disservice to their innate individuality. They are not necessarily metaphors for human conditions although they do allude to them. They are each uniquely themselves. They dance, they fly, they sit pondering their thoughts and they play with each other. The hares are made of bronze. A slow, laborious and costly process which is denied by their lightness of being. They are like quick sketches in the landscape - something one glimpses out of the corner of the eye like a flash of truth.

For du Toit, the use of the hare as a sculptural subject was a logical one - one that grew from his childhood handling of rabbits. It was also a formal choice. Hares and rabbits have six appendages. Two arms, two legs and two extended ears, which, when manipulated, convey expression, mood and movement. From a seriously pondering rabbit with his legs crossed and his chin resting on an arm to one dancing in the field, the variations seem to be endless.

When asked about the meaning of his rabbits, du Toit deferred the question back to them as if they were sentient beings, “Hares do not always think artist’s statements are necessary or relevant. Ask the hares!”

The art says it all, and without words.”—Wilma Cruise^1.

^1. Wilma Cruise, Guy du Toit Discovering the Object (Animals and Birds - A personal reminiscence), March 2018.

Literature

Carla Crafford (2018) Guy du Toit: Hare’s an Idea, Pretoria: Guy du Toit and Carla Crafford, casts from the edition illustrated on pages 66, 71, 72, 73 and the inside dust jacket.