Rubber Duck artist on his next project, a selfie-taking panda 26 metres long: ‘Why just do a panda? I want an extra element’
- When his Rubber Duck installation arrived in Hong Kong in 2013, it was the making of Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman. He learned a lot about the power of his art
- Soon his next work, a bristling giant panda with a working selfie camera, will be installed in Sichuan, China. ‘I’m not interested in cute pandas,’ Hofman says
The coronavirus pandemic hasn’t affected Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman much. He, his wife and four children are housed in a former military compound in a forest. Over the phone, birds can be heard chirping in the background.
“We’re spending more time with the children, who are being home-schooled. We don’t notice there is a pandemic going on, though my wife does the groceries as only one person is allowed to go out,” he says.
The tail has been attached to the fox’s body, next the head will be installed, and then the whole thing will be painted.
His latest project, Selfie Panda, is being built in Dujiangyan in Sichuan province, southwest China, and will be unveiled in late June or early July. Hofman says he was asked to do something giant-panda-related in Sichuan seven years ago, but declined. “Why just do a panda? I want to do a story to add an extra element,” he explains.
