Aug 9, 2018 | By Thomas
A modern version of famous Soviet sculpture, Girl with an Oar, has been unveiled in Moscow’s Gorky Park. The figure, which was restored through 3D printing, was assembled and decorated by talented 'calligraffiti' artist Pokras Lampas, from St. Petersburg, who covered with the body with quotes from modern Russian literature.
Ivan Shadr, an artist favored by Stalin, sculpted "Girl with an Oar" in 1934. The 23-foot nude statue which proved too sexy for the Soviet dictator was banished from pride of place in Moscow's Gorky Park to Ukraine in 1936 and replaced with a less sensual version.
Ivan Shadr working on the original 1935 version.
The statue as shown in Gorky Parky before the Nazi bombing destroyed it in 1941.
The new recreation of the statue marks the 90th anniversary of Gorky Park, and will also appear on the cover of the Russian edition of Esquire.
“If you want to understand Girl with an Oar, just read the text [written on her],” explained Lampas. “The meaning of modern calligraphy is not to maintain the tradition of writing. This is a search for new forms, an attempt to understand how the culture will change under the influence of global trends.”
The four-meter-tall copy of Girl with an Oar took 3-4 weeks to create using a dedicated 3D printer. The 3D models were created from photographs of the original sculpture. The large model was then divided into smaller segments and Temporum, a local 3D printing company, 3D printed the individual parts, each measuring just 30 centimeters. The parts were then assembled and reinforced from the inside. Post-processing took another two weeks.
"I'm not interested in making format projects, so for the magazine I wanted to come up with something different, unlike anything else," explained Lampas. "I decided that it would be good to paint an object... At some point, we remembered that Gorko Park plans to put out the sculpture "Girls with a paddle", printed on a 3D printer - it seemed an ideal combination of technology and art. I began to think out how to paint a sculpture, so that it became both a part of the cover, and an installation, and an art-statement."
"Usually I work in the format "I'm an artist, I create something, and the viewer sees an abstract thing." But the last year I began to actively use the typeface, which combines the message and art. The art part catches the eye and works with associations, and the printed one - makes the idea more understandable, because the meaning in calligraphy is always difficult to read, it requires concentrated attention and a certain context."
Images credit: Esquire
Posted in 3D Printing Application
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