The first sculpture by American actor Johnny Depp will be presented at the Contemporary Istanbul art fair in Turkey, Deadline writes. Simultaneously with the show at the Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art in China, Depp's exhibition A Bunch of Stuff Presents Figures of the Fringe continues, displaying more than 200 of his works.
The two-meter white bronze sculpture, called The Bunnyman, will be installed outdoors on the grounds of Tersane Istanbul, a historic Ottoman shipyard on the Golden Horn in Istanbul.
Organizers describe the work as “half human, half guardian rabbit, carrying the 'sword of truth'.” The image is based on a drawing of Jack, the actor’s son, which he sketched at about the age of five. According to Depp Sr., the image reminded him of a recurring dream from his own childhood. Later, this character repeatedly appeared in his sketches, paintings and graphic works.
The actor worked on the sculpture together with the Sigg Art Foundation, Pantheon Art and the Milanese foundry Fonderia Artistica Battaglia.
Meanwhile, Shanghai residents and visitors can check out A Bunch of Stuff Presents Figures of the Fringe, which opened on August 15 at the Shanghai Museum of Modern Art (MAM Shanghai), marking Depp's first solo museum exhibition in China. The exhibition will last until December 13.
The A Bunch of Stuff project was first presented in 2024 in New York, in a cultural space in the Chelsea area, famous for its numerous art galleries.
The anti-heroes and outsiders that Depp portrayed on screen appear in his artwork as masks, self-portraits and recurring symbols. The exhibition is divided into five thematic parts: Heroes & Idols, Lovers & Muses, First Shadows, Phantasmagoria and Masks & Doubles.
“The faces, words, symbols and objects accumulated over decades of creative life, as well as the people and things that Depp was fascinated by, which he yearned for, which he turned to again and again and which became the objects of his close attention, gradually take shape in the world of Heroes & Idols, Lovers & Muses. First Shadows, Phantasmagoria and Masks & Doubles,” says the exhibition description.
The project was curated by MAM artistic director Shai Beitel, who has previously worked on exhibitions by Marina Abramovic, Bob Dylan, Zaha Hadid and David Hockney.
“The title A Bunch of Stuff suggests an art form that comes from accumulation and instinct. This growing and almost silent logic is central to Depp’s artistic work,” Beitel said.
The Shanghai exhibition takes place on the eve of Depp's return to big cinema. According to ARTNews, the Paramount Pictures film Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol is scheduled to premiere in the United States on Thanksgiving Day, in which the actor played the role of Ebenezer Scrooge, a character from Charles Dickens’ story “A Christmas Carol.”
