Chinese Zodiac's Year of the Wood Snake Inspires Contemporary Art

The 2025 Chinese New Year ushers in the Year of the Wood Snake, a zodiac sign associated with patience and mystery. Artribune explores how this dualistic animal has captivated artists across centuries. In Paris, Ernesto Neto's installation "Le Serpent" at Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche (through February 23, 2025) features a 28-meter crocheted snake suspended on bamboo arches, challenging gender norms and celebrating feminine origins. Damien Hirst's 2017 Venice exhibition "Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable" at Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana included Medusa's head with writhing snakes, symbolizing beauty, power, and danger. Francesca Woodman's self-portraits use snakes as metaphors for transformation and alienation. Robert Mapplethorpe's 1981 photograph "Snakeman" depicts a man in an apotropaic mask entwined by a snake, evoking medieval and Renaissance iconography. Franz von Stuck's 1893 painting "Die Sünde" shows Eve with a snake, representing primordial sin and esoteric mystery. Marina Abramović's 1990 performance "Dragon Heads" featured the artist holding snakes, alluding to the dualism of femininity as both destructive and life-giving.