The snow leopard is one of the most elusive motifs to pervade Yutaka Sone’s works; like his own peripatetic artistic practice, snow leopards (a protected species) seem to be everywhere, yet leave no trace of their movements. The snow leopard can be seen as a metaphorical selfportrait, as a cypher for the artist himself, or to represent the lone artist figure in general. For this image, the artist used his own cat as a model, transferring its spots onto those of the snow leopard.