"Musical Chairs" by Yoko Tanaka

With an illustrator’s eye for graphic impact and a wry sense of humor, artist Yoko Tanaka uses only a paint brush and her imagination to conjure whimsical landscapes and playful encounters. Lingering in the surreal, her dreamlike paintings of human-animal hybrids are at once mischievous and melancholic, painted within a limited palette of soft, smoky tones that give her works a sense of stillness and otherworldliness.

This impressive painting entitled "Musical Chairs" depicts a whimsical scene straight out of a fable. In the middle of a game of musical chairs, eight little bunnies frolic around seven remaining chairs, leaping and racing to claim their seat. The personified rabbits jump and play with uncanny movement, each with a sneaky expression and a knowing smile. The large-scale painting is rendered in a subdued, neutral palette of light brown, grey and white, brushed with soft shading and faint details that further the mysterious tone.

"Musical Chairs," 2009
Yoko Tanaka
Acrylic on canvas. Unframed.