Boxing Hares

Guy du Toit, 2017 (South Africa)

Bronze, 98 3/8 x 29 3/8 x 29 3/8 in.

“This was the first piece I saw when I walked in to a gallery in South Africa, and I just burst out laughing. I thought it was whimsical and funny. I also felt that it ties into the important conversations that come out of the leadership training at Alnoba, because sometimes a conversation can end up a little like a boxing match. I admire leaders who have the guts to tackle really hard stuff first and make decisions.”
–Harriet Lewis

There is an element of irreverence in all of Guy Du Toit’s work, whether he is casting everyday objects like plastic cups or skulls, or sculpting his quirky, rambunctious hares.

Hares and their cousins, rabbits, have long been symbols of life and energy, death and rebirth, often with a close link to the moon, which Du Toit acknowledges in his work. His long-eared anthropomorphs engage in human behaviors such as fighting, dancing, climbing stairs, drinking wine or (cheekily) urinating against a wall.

Fellow South African sculptor Wilma Cruise comments: “Guy Du Toit’s hares have a lightness of being—they dance, they fly, they sit pondering their thoughts. They are like quick sketches in the landscape, something glimpsed out the corner of the eye, like a flash of truth.”