For the artist JEFRÊ
The Buddha
A twenty-foot seated figure, CNC-cut from metal, galvanized and mossed, with its hands shaped into a heart.
Commissioned byThe artist JEFRÊ
LocationExhibition work
Height20 feet
MaterialsMoss over CNC-cut galvanized steel
DetailHands shaped into a heart
The brief
A human figure is the hardest thing to make out of foliage. An animal can be interpreted and still read, but a seated person at twenty feet either has the right proportions or looks wrong to everyone who sees it.
So we drew this one before we built it. The metal was cut by CNC to the drawing, piece by piece, then welded into a body. The moss went on last.
Commissions of any size start with a drawing like this one. See custom made topiary.
Galvanized before it was green.
We galvanized the bare frame over every surface, welds included, because the welds are where outdoor steel fails first. This piece was photographed at every stage of the build, so the bare frame also had to look finished on its own.
The same construction, with the same galvanizing step, sits under everything we make for outdoors. The only difference here is that the shape came off a drawing instead of out of a pair of hands.
A bare galvanized frame can stand as a finished piece, and we sell frames that way in wire frame topiary.
From metal, to moss.
The build
Drawing, metal, moss.
Three stages, in order. The galvanized middle one is why it lasts.
The drawing
A CAD sheet sets out every metal piece before anything is cut. At this scale the proportions are decided on paper, because a twenty-foot figure cannot be adjusted once it is welded.
The galvanized frame
Cut, welded and galvanized. This is the sculpture. Everything after it is surface.
The moss
Applied by hand over the frame, following the form. We shaped and checked the hands as their own sub-assembly before they went near the body.
Everything else on the figure serves the gesture: two hands meeting to make a heart.
The artist
Shown as One Love.
We made the piece for JEFRÊ, whose work has been shown at the Orlando Museum of Art and covered in the art press. The heart gesture gives the work its name.
- ClickOrlando JEFRÊ at the Orlando Museum of Art ↗
- Cultured Magazine Points of Connection ↗
- MonsterXP Building the interactive museum exhibit ↗
A collaboration with PondCreek Studios.
Specification
What it is made of.
- Design
- CAD drawing, dimensioned before fabrication
- Cutting
- CNC-cut metal, piece by piece
- Frame
- Welded steel
- Finish
- Galvanized over the whole frame, welds included
- Covering
- Moss, applied by hand
- Height
- 20 feet
- Feature
- Hands meeting to form a heart
- Use
- Exhibition and gallery display
Ready-made and custom
Where does a piece like this come from?
You can buy pieces ready-made, or commission one to your drawing, in the same frames, foliage and finishes.
Planning something like this?
Tell us what you are picturing.
Send a photo or a sketch with your dimensions and date. We come back with a design, a price and a delivery date, then build it to order.
- 4–10 weekstypical build time
- Any scaletabletop to 40 feet
- US & Canadashipping and install
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