Little Red Riding Hood “Carré” – Nicolas Buffe

[Title] Little Red Riding Hood “Carré”
[Artist] Nicolas Buffe
[Date] May 20 – July 20, 2010

For the Hermès’ annual theme, “Tales to be Told,” the French artist Nicolas Buffe has selected the beloved fairytale Little Red Riding Hood as his subject matter. The result is a unique rendition of this fable, which all children certainly recognize at a glance, in the dimension of the Hermès window display.

“When considering the theme to apply to these windows,” recalls Buffe, “I hit upon the world of Little Red Riding Hood – a tale that is both innocent and spellbinding – as the ideal medium. The story line provides an immaculate mix of naivety, fright and humor, and is known by people of all ages and walks of life. I was further thrilled by the idea of merging Hermès artistic objects into the enchanted world of the author Charles Perrault – for example, using the Hermès “Carré” scarf to help garb Little Red Riding Hood herself.”

This assimilation of grotesque decorations, placing pop elements at every turn, a style widely seen in Buffe’s works, develops in a complete black and white world, accentuating radiant creations of the Hermès product line.

In the left-side window, Little Red Riding Hood is portrayed as a kitten. True to the original saga, she wanders through the woods searching for her grandmother’s house. Creatures from the forest surround her, and move about carrying a teapot, dishes and various other utensils for use in the tea party to come.

The window on the right depicts Grandmother’s House. The Big Bad Wolf awaits Little Red Riding Hood in the bed disguised as her grand mother. Not so cleverly, however, the Wolf’s true identity slips in and out of sight when viewed from the far side of the bed. The wagon wheel like structure placed around the true form of this unwelcome visitor is a symbol of the “wheel of fortune.” Foreshadowing, in no uncertain terms, the finale of this tale when a good hunter appears to save Little Red Riding Hood and her granny and severely punish the Big Bad Wolf for his evil ways.

In the 16 small windows, various scenes from the Grimm’s Fairytales edition of Little Red Riding Hood are played out. They include the team of Little Red Riding Hood, her grandmother and the hunter giving the wolf a good thrashing and other enjoyable images.

Nicolas Buffe
Born in Paris in 1978. Graduated from the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts in Paris in 2005, goes on to learn the Japanese language at the Institut National des Languages Civilisations Orientales. Later travels to Japan to pursue further research, studying at the Tokyo National University of Arts and Music. He has held exhibitions at the La Maison Rouge in Paris, the Tokyo Museum of Comtemporary Art and other premiere venues around the world. Nicolas Buffe currently works out of Japan as the base for his artistic exploits.

Copyrighted Image