The three wise monkeys are a pictorial maxim. Together they embody the proverbial principle to ‘see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’. The three monkeys are Mizaru, covering his eyes, who sees no evil; Kikazaru, covering his ears, who hears no evil; and Iwazaru, covering his mouth, who speaks no evil. Sometimes there is a fourth (lesser known) monkey depicted with the three others. His name is Shizaru and he symbolizes the principle of ‘do no evil’.
The gallery was started by 3 brothers who were affectionately known as ‘little monkeys’ when they were growing up.
A small mental leap personified the brothers as the three wise monkeys. The idea was simply to give them a fourth brother - namely Shizaru - who manifested himself as their London gallery/emporium.
In naming and branding Shizaru, we wanted to convey within the logo design a sense of the eclectic nature of curated pieces the gallery would showcase. Shizaru’s face is made up of a variety of objects that help reflect the eccentricity of the gallery and it’s objectives as a a contemporary art gallery focusing on a unique visual culture.
