Æ (XX-XXI) - Set of 3 – “Jiji: Three Cities, Nine Lives” (2026) – Mixed Media Triptych

Æ (Spain, b. 1977) – “Jiji: Three Cities, Nine Lives” (2026) – Hand-finished, signed, numbered & CoA

BUNDLE!! You are bidding on a set of 3 original mixed-media artworks from Æ’s Jiji Collection, following the iconic black cat on an imaginary journey through London, Paris and Cairo. Each artwork is individually hand-finished, hand-signed and numbered from an exceptionally limited edition of only 4 unique variations.

◉ Total size: 37 × 66 cm. Three artworks, each measuring 37 × 22 cm.
◉ Original mixed-media artworks by artist Æ. Exceptionally limited edition of only 4 unique variations.
◉ Individually hand-finished using spray paint and pastel crayons. Each artwork is hand-signed and numbered.
◉ Authenticated by a holographic security seal on the included Certificate of Authenticity.
◉ Created on acid-free Hahnemühle rice paper for Sumi-e (Japanese black-ink painting), ensuring archival standards.
◉ Limited and authorized edition, with an individual registration ID corresponding to the artist’s official catalogue.

Three Cities, Nine Lives

This set of three reimagines Jiji as a small, enigmatic traveller moving through three of the world’s most recognizable cities. London, Paris and Cairo become atmospheric backdrops for the black cat, transforming familiar landmarks into scenes from an imaginary illustrated journey filled with nostalgia, curiosity and quiet adventure.

The first composition places Jiji high above London, overlooking a rain-soaked streetscape of double-decker buses, telephone boxes, Victorian lamps and the silhouette of Big Ben. The enormous black cat feels simultaneously playful and surreal, turning the familiar city into something resembling an oversized childhood dream.

In Paris, Jiji assumes a quieter, more contemplative presence. Sitting beside the Seine with the Eiffel Tower rising in the distance, the cat becomes an observant traveller surrounded by old street lamps, café signs and the romantic architecture of the city. The composition introduces a gentle moment of stillness between the more fantastical scenes on either side.

The journey concludes in Cairo, where Jiji appears beneath a striped pharaonic headdress against a dense landscape of pyramids, the Sphinx, minarets and desert vegetation. Ancient history and playful contemporary imagery collide, giving the final work the character of an imaginary travel poster or a forgotten illustrated adventure.

Together, the three artworks form a warm and playful visual narrative about travel, curiosity and transformation. Jiji remains the constant protagonist while each city changes the atmosphere around him—from rainy metropolitan London, through the romantic calm of Paris, to the archaeological dreamscape of Cairo.

Rather than functioning as conventional character illustrations, the works reinterpret Jiji through Æ’s distinctive monochrome, print-inspired visual language. Deep blacks, distressed surfaces, dense cross-hatching and irregular ink textures evoke vintage Japanese manga, woodblock printing, antique engravings and weathered graphic ephemera.

The deliberately aged appearance gives the compositions the feeling of rediscovered illustrations from another era, while their unexpected combination of Japanese popular culture with European and North African landmarks creates a distinctly contemporary visual collision.

Across the triptych, the recurring black silhouette of Jiji provides a strong graphic rhythm. Monumental architecture, intricate urban detail and playful shifts of scale surround the character, balancing nostalgia, humour, mystery and wanderlust.

About the artist

Artist and designer Æ (Spain, b. 1977) holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Digital Design and Multimedia Technologies (Barcelona, 2004) and a Bachelor’s Degree in East Asian Studies. He has been creating and experimenting since an early age with the visual language of 1980s computer graphics, developing a personal aesthetic influenced by minimalism, conceptual art, Japanese culture and skateboard graphics.

His artworks can now be found in private collections in more than 30 countries worldwide, from the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy to Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Collectors appreciate the distinctive and immediately recognizable character of Æ’s work.

Æ’s artwork is characterized by a restrained visual language, strong contrasts and carefully selected imagery used to convey complex emotions and ideas. Stark black-and-white compositions emphasize the dialogue between light and darkness, familiarity and mystery, nostalgia and imagination.

Æ’s work was the subject of a review by respected exhibition art curator Thierry Fournier (Artnoises):

“Collected AE (XX), it comes down to wanting, breaking, transgressing, an invisible border, to merging the civilizational DNA of the future and the past, looking down and in the same second, rocking! the work becomes a ticket, a simple ‘go!’ for an emotional teleportation that we live and see in ‘Black and white’! Æ2381 pushes you to jump into a void, in fact, populated with images, symbols, unexplored signs that propels us to a Real Timeless!”
— T. Fournier (Artnoises) ★★★★★

All photographs represent the artworks as accurately as possible. Slight variations may occur due to differences in lighting and monitor settings.

Some presentation photographs may include decorative objects used purely to create atmosphere and provide display inspiration, such as books, a small crystal pyramid and a crystal Sphinx. These decorative objects, as well as the frames shown in presentation photographs, are not included in the lot.

Immediate shipping after payment, with appropriate insurance and tracking. Please do not hesitate to contact me for any additional information.

Combined shipping is available when purchasing multiple artworks to help minimize shipping costs.

We are a PRO and TOP seller with 100% positive feedback, so you can bid with confidence. Every artwork is carefully packed, and special extras are included with this lot.