CURRENT PROJECT / 2026

The Rat
and the Red Shoes

WORK IN PROGRESS
ACRYLIC ON CANVAS
100 × 120 CM

Stage: research & development

Medium: acrylic on canvas

Dimensions: 100 × 120 cm

Status: work in progress

The project brings together two culturally overloaded images: the rat and the red shoeы. Rather than treating either as a fixed symbol, AKSI is building the work through anatomy, physical modelling, fashion research and composition studies - allowing meaning to emerge from the collision between the two.

01 / OBJECT STUDY

Here the image begins with the object itself — a physical model used to fix the body logic, proportions and point of view before moving into anatomy and composition.

01 / ANATOMY

The paws and joints were studied separately so the final body could remain recognisably rat-like even when pushed into an unnatural, suspended pose.

01 / THE RED SHOES

The footwear research moves between fairy tale, danger, desire, status and fashion history. The final shoe direction is being developed from a red Y/Project reference from Glenn Martens’ tenure at the house. Archival visual documentation is being sought before the painting is completed so the footwear can be studied with greater accuracy.

04 / COMPOSITION

The current composition places the rat in suspension, gripping the shoes rather than wearing them. The tension comes from the contrast between an animal coded as abject and an object coded as desire.