A WARDROBE IN METAMORPHOSIS

VESTIARIO BESTIARIO

Vestiario Bestiario is a 1940s Italian wardrobe, selected for its proportions and frontal presence, which already suggested the surface of a large painting. Its interior is reimagined through twelve sliding panels hand-painted by Ericailcane.

Arranged across three horizontal rows, four heads, four bodies and four pairs of legs can be combined in sixty-four different ways. Drawn from Ericailcane’s bestiary, a rabbit, a cockatoo, a robin and a mouse exchange heads, bodies and legs as the panels move across the structure. With each movement, the composition shifts, creating an image that never appears in quite the same way twice, in a perpetual play of changing garments and identities.

Unique piece. Manoteca & Ericailcane.

WIDTH  225 cm  88.6 in

DEPTH 61 cm  24 in

HEIGHT 194 cm  76.4 in

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Front view of Vestiario Bestiario cabinet in closed configuration with sliding painted panels depicting dressed anthropomorphic rabbit, cockatoo, songbird and mouse figures

Vestiario bestiario is an 1940s Italian wardrobe reimagined as a kinetic cabinet through twelve sliding panels hand-painted by Ericailcane, creating an image in perpetual transformation.

Front view of Vestiario Bestiario in semi-open configuration with overlapping sliding painted panels and dark brown compartment interior structure

Wardrobe: the exterior preserves its original form. Inside, three horizontal registers supports twelve hand-painted sliding Dibond panels, allowing the image shifts with each movement.

Vestiario Bestiario, Manoteca & Ericailcane, walnut veneer cabinet, sliding painted panels in motion, anthropomorphic rabbit and bird, human scale, unique piece

Panels: twelve hand-painted Dibond panels, 53 × 53 cm | 20.9 × 20.9 in each. Sliding across four guides, they transform a fixed image into a changing composition.

Vestiario Bestiario, Manoteca & Ericailcane, walnut veneer cabinet, hand-painted Dibond sliding panels, animal characters recombined, interactive collectible design

Combinations: four heads, four bodies and four pairs of legs generate sixty-four possible characters.

Perspective view of Vestiario Bestiario with closed sliding panels forming anthropomorphic animal figures hand-painted by Ericailcane on walnut veneer cabinet

The Bestiary: a robin, a cockatoo, a rabbit and a mouse. Four characters from Ericailcane’s bestiary.

Close-up of overlapping sliding Dibond panels hand-painted by Ericailcane with anthropomorphic animal figures inside Vestiario Bestiario cabinet

Painting: Ericailcane painted each figure so that heads, bodies and legs can exchange places, generating new characters.

Perspective view of Vestiario Bestiario in open configuration with overlapping painted panels, fragmented animal figures, books and objects integrated within the walnut cabinet structure

Storage: the wardrobe continues to function as a storage piece. Sliding panels overlap and disappear behind one another, revealing shelves, concealing objects while generating compositions.

Close-up of hand-painted anthropomorphic bird figure by Ericailcane on sliding panel inside Vestiario Bestiario cabinet

Disappearance: panels can slide beyond the visible image, allowing figures to appear, disappear and re-emerge in new configurations.

Close-up of walnut sliding track system with four routed grooves guiding the hand-painted Dibond panels inside Vestiario Bestiario cabinet

Sliding guides: custom-milled guides integrated into the structure allow the twelve panels to slide, overlap and reconfigure the image.

Side perspective view of Vestiario Bestiario showing walnut veneer structure, sculptural volume and partially visible sliding painted panels

Patina: the restoration was limited to what was necessary. Tonal variations and traces of use remain visible, preserving its history and material character.

Rear perspective view of Vestiario Bestiario showing walnut veneer structure and chocolate brown lacquered back panels

Back: glossy dark-chocolate lacquer finish.

Detail of the original wooden base and walnut veneer frame of Vestiario Bestiario cabinet by Manoteca and Ericailcane

Base: original wooden plinth from the 1940s, preserved intact.

Perspective view of Vestiario Bestiario with sliding panels in closed configuration and two partially shifted panels revealing the internal mechanism

Volume: the original cabinet becomes a three-dimensional structure in which image, storage and movement coexist within a single volume.

Vestiario Bestiario cabinet by Manoteca with painted anthropomorphic animal figures on sliding panels in a concrete architectural space

Inhabiting Space: neither entirely furniture nor entirely painting, the work occupies space as a mutable image, activated through movement and participation.