Garden sculpture "Mother Earth Dances" (Original / Unique piece), bronze
Garden sculpture "Mother Earth Dances" (Original / Unique piece), bronze
Quick info
unique piece | bronze | hand-chased and hand-patinated | size 250 x 100 x 115 cm (h/w/d) | weight approx. 291 kg
Detailed description
Garden sculpture "Mother Earth Dances" (Original / Unique piece), bronze
The Roman Gaia, the African Konkomba, the South American Pachamama, the Indian Prithivi - mythologies all over the world know the motif of the primordial mother. Often, the origin of the world and nature are linked to highly revered female figures. Beth Newman-Maguire's "Dancing Mother Earth", who, wrapped in foliage, elegantly dances to distribute life and fertility, thus goes back to an ancient, archetypal myth - even if she knows how to express it in a stylistically highly modern way.
Unique piece in bronze, cast using the Lost-Wax-Process, chiselled and patinated by hand. Size 250 x 100 x 115 cm (h/w/d). Weight approx. 291 kg.
An alloy of copper with other metals (especially with tin) used since ancient times. It is an ideal metal for high-quality artistic castings, capable of enduring for millennia.
When casting bronze, the artist usually applies the lost-wax technique which is dating back more than 5000 years. This is the best, but also the most complex method of producing sculptures.
First, the artist forms a model of their work. This model is embedded in a liquid silicone rubber mass. Once the material has solidified, the model is cut out, leaving a negative mould. Liquid wax is then poured into the negative mould. After cooling down, the wax cast is removed from the mould, provided with sprues and dipped into ceramic mass. The ceramic mass is hardened in a kiln, where the wax melts away (lost mould).
Finally, the negative mould is ready, into which the 1400° C hot molten bronze is poured. After the bronze had cooled down, the ceramic shell is broken apart, reavoling the sculpture.
Next, the sprues are removed, the surfaces are polished, patinated and numbered by the artist or by a specialist, following their instructions. Thus, each casting is an original work.
For lower-quality bronze castings, the sand casting method is often used, which, however, does not achieve the results of a more elaborate lost-wax technique in terms of surface characteristics and quality.
A one-of-a-kind or unique piece is a work of art personally created by the artist. It exists only once due to the type of production (oil painting, watercolour, drawing, lost-wax sculpture etc.).
In addition to the classic unique pieces, there are also the so-called "serial unique pieces". They present a series of works with the same colour, motif and technique, manually prepared by the same artist. The serial unique pieces are rooted in "serial art", a genre of modern art that aims to create an aesthetic effect through series, repetitions, and variations of the same objects or themes or a system of constant and variable elements or principles.
The historical starting point is considered to be Claude Monet's "Les Meules" (1890/1891), where, for the first time, a series was created that went beyond a mere group of works. The other artists, who addressed to the serial art, include Claude Monet, Piet Mondrian and above all Gerhard Richter.