November 14, 2022
This slim and sweet yet eerie wordless fable by Swedish artist and printmaker Gnosspelius begins with the funny-sad image of an enormous bear with its head stuck in a cone. A lanky rabbit tries to help, undaunted by the bear’s anger and frustration, and the two animals become wary companions. Unable to speak, they connect through music, and in time the question arises of what will happen to their unlikely friendship if the bear ever gets out of his predicament. The lushly illustrated wilderness they explore appears sometimes as a realistic landscape of woods, fields, and gorges, and sometimes as a nightmare in which spikes protrude from the ground, giants lurk in the trees, and tentacles rise from the depths to snare passersby—a visual expression of the bear’s confusion and fear. In one lovely moment, a swarm of menacing tentacles transforms into a sun-dappled grove. Gnosspelius’s delicate black-and-white art, so sure with light and shadow, imbues the gloomiest encounters with natural beauty. As the bear and rabbit make their way toward a silent understanding, they pass through the darkness, and slowly pages of soft, bright watercolors occasionally appear and suggest dawning relief. As an allegory about depression, connection, and friendship, this work will strike a chord with receptive readers. Each page is a piece of art worth poring over.