La cigarra y la hormiga: Fabula de Babrio

Abstract

"Here is one of three books in a series that includes "manualidades" -- handicrafts generally -- and a scissors on the cover of each book. The "handicraft" consists in fashioning a representation of each of the characters. This version of GA starts with the ants and their song while they work marching in a column. The artist's style is unique in several ways. He enjoys picturing musical notes, as when the grasshopper sings in front of a music stand and a microphone -- apparently for only his own pleasure inside the studio (9). Aranda also combines drawing with photography skillfully, as when the drawn ants gather around pictured furniture in winter (7). That furniture even includes a telephone! His art form tends to exaggerate head sizes. This grasshopper is quite defensive and outspoken when an ant challenges him: "Don't you like my singing? I'll have just as much to eat when winter comes." When winter does come, the musical notes lie in disorder in the snow underneath and around the hungry grasshopper. I read the French to say that the ant tries to teach him a lesson by telling him to dance to get over the cold. The two characters are constructed using modelling clay, paper clips, and toilet paper."