Paul Binnie (b. 1967), (L): Japanese Zodiac: Rabbit (Junishi no Usagi), 2024, hosoban 13 x 5 3/4 in. (33.1 x 14.5 cm); (R): A Day At the Beach: Tan Lines, (Hamabe no Tsuika: Hiyake no Ato), 2024, hosoban 13 1/8 x 5 1/2 in. (33.3 x 14 cm)

Scholten Japanese Art is excited to announce the release of the second pair of designs in Paul Binnie’s two concurrent series which launched earlier this year; Rabbit from the Japanese Zodiac series, and Tan Lines from A Day at the Beach series.

Japanese Zodiac: Rabbit features a model with tattoos that represent the Year of the Rabbit (which in the zodiac calendar precedes the dragon, featured in the first print in the series). The upper tattoo is derived from an Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861) print of a toy rabbit ferrying a boat, originally printed as an aka-e (red picture), produced as a lucky talisman to ward off smallpox in the 19th century. Children’s toys were popular subjects of these prints, as were images of Shoki the Demon-Queller, as illness was often framed as the work of demons. The lower tattoo is inspired by the 1889 print by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892) illustrating the Jade Rabbit and the Monkey King before a large pink moon from the One Hundred Aspects of the Moon series. Binnie has added a touch of humor in the placement of the moon in this composition, which alludes to the play on words with the English phrase ‘mooning.’

In A Day at the Beach: Tan Lines, the figure was printed using the same block set to create Rabbit from Binnie’s Japanese Zodiac series. In this non-tattoo version, the figure is printed to show two levels of tan lines, from longer shorts and from a speedo worn at different times, leaving paler areas untanned. The background is reduction printed in approximately 19 colors, and an embellishment of mica has been used to suggest the wet sand at the water’s edge.

To view these vibrant prints and more by Paul Binnie, click here.