Newsletters
Johnny Depp’s first sculpture, The Bunnyman, will be unveiled in Istanbul during the 21st edition of Contemporary Istanbul, bringing a recurring figure from the actor and artist’s paintings and drawings into three-dimensional form for the first time.
The monumental 2-meter white bronze work will be presented outdoors at Tersane Istanbul, the historic Ottoman shipyard on the Golden Horn, as one of the contemporary art fair’s special projects from Sept. 22-27, 2026.
Created through a collaboration between the Sigg Art Foundation, Pantheon Art and Milan-based Fonderia Artistica Battaglia, the sculpture builds on a character that has repeatedly appeared in Depp’s visual work, including his "Friends & Heroes" and "Bunnyman Genesis" limited-edition series.
Described as a half-human, half-rabbit guardian carrying a “sword of truth,” The Bunnyman grew out of both Depp’s childhood memories and a drawing made by his son at around the age of five.
According to the foundation, the sketch reminded Depp of a recurring dream he had experienced at roughly the same age, in which a faceless figure stood at the top of the basement stairs in his childhood home in Kentucky.
Depp recalled how the connection came together through his son’s drawing:
“When people see the painting I did 'The Bunnyman' they always ask the same question: where did it come from? Some character that Jack had scribbled, beautiful scribbles into that shape, that image, reminded me of a kind of recurrent dream that I had as a child, probably around Jack’s age, five, six…”
The sculpture was cast at Fonderia Artistica Battaglia using the lost-wax method, a process linked in the release to artists Depp admires, including Alberto Giacometti and Marino Marini.
Sand used during the casting also ties back to Depp’s memory of moving grains inside the figure’s body in his childhood dream.
The bronze work further develops a 2-meter canvas made with layers of Rizla papers against a bold red background, carrying an image previously explored through painting and collage into sculptural form.
The collaboration came about after Depp met Sigg Art Foundation founder Pierre Sigg in AlUla, Saudi Arabia. Sigg said the Istanbul presentation also reflected Contemporary Istanbul’s growing international reach, noting that artists and galleries now take part in the fair who might not have considered doing so a decade earlier.
The Contemporary Istanbul presentation will coincide with Depp’s A Bunch of Stuff exhibition at the Modern Art Museum Shanghai, which opened on Aug. 15 and brings together more than 200 works.
The Shanghai exhibition will also feature The Bunnyman, linking the two presentations as the sculpture is introduced publicly.
Set as preferred source
Set as preferred source
1 min read
1 min read
