Death Carrier Bunny, 2024

Robert Nava has rapidly emerged as one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary painting, celebrated for his raw, instinctive visual language that merges childlike mark-making with art-historical gravitas. Drawing on mythology, cartoons, and the primal symbolism of animals, Nava creates hybrid creatures that feel at once ancient and urgently contemporary. His works balance spontaneity with conceptual precision, often exploring themes of mortality, vulnerability, and transformation through deceptively simple forms rendered with expressive line and bold surface interventions.

Death Carrier Bunny (2024) exemplifies this tension between innocence and menace. Executed as a UV pigment print on aluminium Dibond, the work is elevated by intentionally and uniquely tarnished 7.2ct white gold leaf embellishments, introducing a refined material counterpoint to the subject’s feral energy. The piece is individually signed and numbered by the artist on the front and accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. Presented in a bespoke, unglazed walnut wood tray frame, it measures 38.31 × 43.31 inches (97.30 × 110.00 cm) unframed and 40.63 × 45.67 × 1.89 inches (103.20 × 116.00 × 4.80 cm) framed. The juxtaposition of precious metal and deliberately distressed finish underscores Nava’s ongoing dialogue between beauty and decay, elevating the work beyond image into object.