MEDSAN - Nara Sacred Deer (奈良の神鹿) - UNIQUE WORK

ONLY ONE IN THE WORLD EXISTS - EDITION 1/1

With this vertical-format work, Medsan makes the sika deer of Nara the container of its own sanctuary. The silhouette of the deer, sacred messenger of the kami in the Shinto tradition of Kasuga-taisha, opens in a double exposure over a cinabre torii alley won by the red maples of momiji. The motif dialogues directly with ukiyo-e prints and the sumi-e landscape, where the animal is never merely an animal subject but a threshold between the visible world and the world of the deities.

The treatment is a wash in watercolor on high-grain paper, conducted in the spirit of sumi-e: the body is laid down as a single mass of diluted ink, the legs dissolve into wet blurs, the deer’s antlers are drawn in dry strokes at the brush tip, like a handwritten character. Inside the coat, the palette shifts toward garance reds and moss greens, with the deer's spots translated into suspended maple leaves. The drying halos, ink splashes, and the white reserves left on the paper embrace the element of chance dear to Japanese water painting. The cartouche メドサン, drawn with ink at the bottom right, serves as an artist’s seal.

The mashup says one simple and dizzying thing: the animal and its sacred territory are a single material. The deer does not pass through the sanctuary; it carries it — the torii stands in the hollow of its flanks as a memory or a genetic memory of the place. This permeability between living being and inhabited landscape aligns with Shinto animism, where every forest, every stone, and every beast harbors a presence.

A contemplative and silent piece, ideal for bringing a touch of Japanese tranquility to an interior belonging to a collector sensitive to the bridges between traditional prints and contemporary art.

Technical specifications:
Artist: Medsan
Reference: cerf sika Nara / torii / aquarelle sumi-e / momiji / shinto / double exposure
Dimensions: 40 x 60 cm
Edition: Unique work — 1/1 (one copy in the world)
Year: 2026
Support: Giclée mounted on wooden stretcher (thickness ~2 cm)
Signature: Yes, hand-signed
Condition: Excellent
Certificate: Certificate of authenticity (on request)

About the Studio:
Atelier Joconde is a studio of artists gathered around a living and plural contemporary creation. Installed as a true artistic production space, the studio operates both in collective creation and in individual approaches, depending on projects and works. Atelier Joconde is also a family venture. Le Yack, a contemporary figurative painter, develops a narrative and introspective body of work influenced by cinema and realism. Beside him, Medsan, oriented toward pop art painting, explores color, modern iconography, and visual culture. Finally, Neo Pablo engages in a more instinctive research, blending abstract art, brut art, and figurative abstraction. Each work is conceived, created, and followed within the studio, with a shared artistic standard and an identity unique to each artist.

Keywords:
Medsan, Atelier Joconde, Le Yack, Cerf sika, Nara, Torii, Sumi-e, Aquarelle, Momiji, Shinto, Double exposure, Vertical format, Contemporary, Unique work, 1/1