The Maijishan Grottoes - Artistic Treasure of China’s Past

China has four major Buddhist cave complexes - by far the most visited being the Longmen caves. Less well known are the Maijishan Grottoes. Situated in Gansu Province in the northwest of China, this astonishing example of cave architecture hewn from rock consists of over 7,000 Buddhist sculptures not to mention almost 1000 square meters of murals.

Image Credit Flickr User Mke1963

Here Be Dragons: Amazing Statues and Sculptures of Dragons Around the World

In the Middle Ages the words hic sunt dracones (here be dragons) appeared on a number of maps to indicate dangerous or unexplored territories.  Yet dragons are still among us, dotted all over the globe.  From Europe to Asia and over to the Americas, ferocious beasts (and some a little less so…) protect our cities and temples.  Here is a collection of amazing dragon statues and sculptures from around the world.

Sneinton, England

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The Garden of the Monsters

In sixteenth century Italy the nobility would often leave testimony of their greatness through the form of religious art.  Not so Pier Francesco Orsini.  He wanted to be remembered in an entirely different way – through his Park of the Monsters. He did not want his monuments to please – he wanted them to astonish.

Image Credit Flickr User workflo

Tucked away in Bomarzo almost seventy kilometers from Rome, the gardens are located in a section of woodland near to the bottom of the valley in which the Orsini family castle was built.  Here, after a career as a mercenary, the latest of the Orsini line settled in to a life of middle-aged Epicureanism.  The park is perhaps holds a mirror to his imagination (or even state of mind) after a lifetime of political and social turmoil.

The Fiberglass Statue Graveyard of Sparta

Sparta, Wisconsin is known as the bicycling capital of America.  Yet it has another, more surreal claim to fame. If you live in the States and have ever wondered where the fiberglass sculptures that ornament your malls and amusement parks come from then the answer is likely to be Sparta.  The city is the home of the FAST factory which produces thousands of pieces each year and has done since 1983.  Yet once the finished items are shipped, where do the molds go?

Image Credit Flickr User contusion

The Monuments of North Korea

The age of huge monuments to political ideology came to an end for many with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.  In the rush towards change, many massive statues of communist leaders and heroes were toppled or consigned to scrap yards.  The time for colossal testaments to the cream of communism was, it seems, well and truly over. Or perhaps not. No one seems to have told the North Koreans.  The East Asian country, still in the thrall of totalitarian and Stalinist policies combined with a cult of personality based around a single family is awash with grandiose monuments.  Here are just some of them.

The Juche Tower

Image Credit Flickr User Julian_Limes

Image Credit Flickr User (stephan)

The Juche Tower was part of a flurry of moments erected in the 1980s.  Juche is the system created by Kim Il-sung, the North’s first Prime Minister.  It consists of self-sufficiency, self-reliance and nationalism – effectively a closed economy which must stagger along without external assistance or international trade. Autarky, as the self-reliance is known had been previously practiced by Nazi Germany (with the realisation that because war was inevitable with some of the countries it traded with, this could not be relied upon in the totalitarian future with plenty of lebensraum that was envisioned).

The Sky Art of Galleta Meadows

Did you know that dinosaurs, mammoths and sabre-toothed cats still roam the deserts of San Diego County in California?  Outside of the town of Borrego Springs lies Galleta Meadows.  Scattered around the staggering dessert landscapes, enormous steel sculptures are juxtaposed against the pristine heavens.  The man behind it, Dennis Avery, called it Sky Art.  It is easy to see why.

Image Credit Flickr User Marie Carter

If you work in an office environment then his name will ring a bell.  He founded the company you use for your labels.  Although he passed away in 2012 he ensured that his vision would live on.  He allotted the land around the remarkable sculptures as a place where people could set up camp and visit free of charge.  It is certainly worth a visit to the desert to encounter his extraordinary legacy, although you do have to be careful of a very much extant animal – the rattlesnake.

The Flying Monkeys of Burlington

Even though Burlington is the largest city in the US state of Vermont, its population only numbers just over 40,000 souls.  Yet every place needs its guardians and protectors and Burlington has its very own to defend and preserve the population.  The fact that they are winged monkeys might raise few eyebrows in the town: for visitors these primates with plumage are a source of surprise and delight.

Image Credit Flickr User Monekeyswithwings

Image Credit Flickr User monkeyswithwings

Although no one is 100 percent sure where Burlington acquired its name, the city has a history dating back to 1763 when a land grant was given to one Samuel Willis and 63 others.  The winged monkeys are a more recent addition: their essentially gargoyle form lends itself well to the town’s European roots.

Rapid City: The City of Presidents

Visitors to the historic downtown of South Dakota’s Rapid City are in for something of a surprise. Turn a corner and you come face to face with a life size bronze statue of the USA’s first ever President, George Washington (above, who was in office from 1789 – 1797).  Turn another and you come across his successor, George Adams. In fact there is a statue of each US President in the city (bar the current incumbent).  As well as being a remarkable tribute to the leaders of America, it's a great way to memorize the presidents. Take a look at each, in order of his time as POTUS.

John Adams - 1797 - 1801

Image Credit Flickr User jvstin

The project began in 2000 with the pattern of placement throughout the Downtown district specifically chosen to give those doing the ‘tour’ a rational structure while avoiding any favouritism to a particular president or party.

Nelson Mandela: A Tribute in Art

Nelson Mandela: 18 July 1918 - 5 December 2013

When I was a teenager in the early 1980s I think my first encounter with the name Nelson Mandela was probably through a badge.  Although my memory is a little fuzzy about exactly when, it was most likely 1983, the year before the Special AKA band released what is still in most Top 20 Political Songs lists – Free Nelson Mandela.  The song made it in to the top ten in the UK hit parade. The badge, though, with its typically 80s font, was ubiquitous.

Image Credit Flickr User Ben Sutherland
As well as being worn to protest the on-going incarceration of the South African politician by his own government, the badge was also another way for us to show our displeasure with our own: Maggie Thatcher and her cohorts were currently smashing their way through UK industry like a wrecking ball.  The only pictures we got to see of Nelson Mandela were those taken before his trial and imprisonment – and that had been in 1962, over twenty years previously.   The man could already be representative of causes other than his own – a kind of marker of general political and personal duty: this transference from individual to universal symbol is something that few others have achieved.
Image Credit Flickr User Vilseskogen
The potency of this charisma was bound to find outlets through artistic expression both of the monumental and the personal kind. After his release and his inevitable rise to political power, Mandela’s face became (and I do not use the word without hesitation) iconographic, even in life.  He became a living, breathing symbol of the struggle for personal liberty, for freedom of speech, for universal education and suffrage – and more: I could probably leave a space here and each of you could fill in the gap with your own reason for admiring this man, surely one of the most pivotal in contemporary world history.

The Beach Captain

Every city has its eccentrics, none more so than London.  One of the city’s great characters is Ron, otherwise known as The Beach Captain.  He descends on London’s South Bank every day and makes sand sculptures on the beach of the River Thames (yes, it has a beach!).  Over the best part of a decade the Beach Captain has become a fixture on the South Bank and people make special visits to see what he is creating on any particular day.  There is a certain canniness to him as he ensures, through a variety of beach side games, that people can make a contribution to the creation of his art but this is never going to make him a millionaire!

The Beach Captain was created by Tom Akerman, a freelance camera operator and editor based in South London.  It is done with great fondness for Ron and his way of life and let’s face it: there should always be room for people like the South Bank’s Beach Captain on this planet!

Gromit Unleashed!

If you are a fan of Wallace and Gromit, the lovable but hapless inventor and his canine fixer, then you might want to pack your bags and head to the city of Bristol in the south west of England.  Gromit has taken flight from his northern home of Wigan and arrived in Bristol in the form of eighty amazing five foot tall sculptures.  The whole experience is rather cleverly named Gromit Unleashed.

Image Credit © Flickr User sa//y

The sculptures arrived in a number of ways.  Some came by train...

Julian Opie @ Lisson Gallery

If you are in London over the next month and you are interested in the New British Sculpture movement then one place you must visit is the Lisson Gallery. From now until 25 August you can visit the largest ever exhibition of the work of Julian Opie. What’s more, all of the work exhibited here is new.

Over the last three decades Opie has become widely recognized for his contribution to contemporary art. He is preoccupied with investigating the concept of representation- how the human face and form is presented through art. It has a striking immediacy (no one can argue that it isn’t very, very contemporary) which belies its often older roots.

Cumbernauld Sculpture - A Behind The Scenes Glimpse of the Creation of An Ethereal Beauty

It has taken almost a year to complete but later this summer the Scottish town of Cumbernauld will be transformed by the presence of as yet unnamed steel maiden – standing over ten meters in height.  The immense sculpture is the work of internationally renowned artist Andy Scott.  We at Kuriositas are very pleased to show you some behind the scenes pictures of the statue's creation, courtesy of the Campsies Centre Cumbernauld Ltd project team.

These first pictures of the sculpture show the head of the maiden, constructed from steel plates and large enough itself – 1.5 meters high and wide.  The hair is deliberately styled to reflect the 1960s – when Cumbernauld was created as a new town (a planned community on previously unsettled land).

The town is probably most famous (internationally at least) for the charming 1981 coming of age film Gregory’s Girl.  However, it is hoped that with the sculpture, the town will become a beacon for visitors and investors in business in the twenty first century. At a quarter of a million pounds, it does represent something of a gamble.

The sculpture will, when completed, incorporate two large arcs, swooping from her hands to the base.  In Scottish Gaelic, the name Cumbernauld comes from comar nan allt which translates as the coming together of waters.  As such it is a more than appropriate image for the town.

We must wait for the unveiling of the sculpture to see the finished piece of work in its entirety, above is an artist's impression of what it will look like. The height of ten meters is shown here by the tiny image of a person at the bottom left of the sculpture.

Although the statue echoes the past its purpose is very much to project a positive image of the town for the future.  When in place it is hoped that the sculpture will be seen by over seventy thousand people a day.  The modernity of the statue is such that she even has her own Facebook page. Click on the link here - or any of the pictures - to visit the FB page.

Cumbernauld has, as a town, had its detractors in the past – but such is the local support for the sculpture that one company, Highland Galvnizers, has offered the expensive galvanisation process free of charge.  This will give the steel structure an even more ethereal look than she already possesses.

These most recent pictures were taken at the beginning of August.  Galvanizing the sculptuire is the last off-site stage of the artwork and, in the near future, she will take her rightful place overlooking the A80 motorway at the entrance to the town.  From dark, industrial steel to an elegant and almost eerie form, this sculpture will turn many a head.

Andy Scott has a long history of art in Scotland and his portfolio extends to over seventy works both there and abroad.  Some have become incredibly popular local signposts, such as his Heavy Horse sculpture on the M8 motorway just outside Scotland’s second city, Glasgow (see below).

Image Credit Wikimedia

It can only be hoped that the Cumbernauld sculpture (as yet unnamed) will become the emblem for the regeneration of the town and increase the pride the local residents already have in their town.

Kuriositas would like to thank the Campsies Centre Cumbernauld Ltd project team and Bill Ranatunga  for permission to use the pictures of the Cumbernauld Sculpture in this article.

The Lions of Bath – Pride in the City

Image Credit Flickr User Fortaguada

The City of Bath, the historic city situated in the south west of England, is popular with tourists from all over the world.  However the good citizens of this two thousand year old city woke up this week to be greeted by visitors of a completely different type – a different species altogether in fact.

Image Credit Flickr User Daz Smith

Image Credit Flickr User Gazza of Bath

The biggest outdoor art event the city (which in its entirety is a World Heritage Site) has ever hosted sees a pride of one hundred lions take to the streets.  You have surmised already though that these lions are not flesh and blood – they are life size individually decorated sculptures.  The contemporary wives of Bath (and indeed their husbands) are safe on the streets.

Image Credit Flickr User Rose of Academe

Over thirty of the pride has been installed and the lions will be situated at sites across the city until October.  But why these leonine lovelies?  Why not some other animal?  For a start, the lion has been the symbol of royal England for almost a thousand years.

Image Credit Flickr User Fortaguaga

Richard the Lionheart, the missing king in the Robin Hood films, more often than not played by Sean Connery (or at least that’s how it feels) for those of you who like your history Hollywood style was the first to create the three lions symbol of which you may be aware from soccer tournaments at least.  Both of his parents had lions to represent their houses and he added a third.  The rest is history as they say.

Image Credit Flickr User Daz Smith

Image Credit Flickr User Gazza of Bath

So far so symbolic.  Additionally, this huge art installation is an attempt to build on the ‘pride’ that many Bathonians already feel (and incidentally, the bathonian is a period during the Jurassic, names after the city).  Local communities, businesses and people have sponsored each lion and they have then been decorated and people by craftspeople and artists.

Image Credit Flickr User Rose of Academe

You name the art genre and you will probably find a lion which can claim it as its own.  From fine artists to ceramicists, mosaic artists to those whose works cannot be easily pigeonholed there will be a host of styles in the city this summer.

Image Credit Flickr User Rose of Academe

The installation will culminate, in October, with a congregation of all of the one hundred members of the pride in front of Bath’s famous Royal Crescent, in a ceremony which is to be known as the Lions Roar Goodbye – that should certainly be an event to remember and a site to see.

Image Credit Flickr User Daz Smith

Image Credit Flickr User Gazza of Bath

The lions will then be auctioned off and the proceeds will go to a number of local charities with some of the proceeds being used to fund art projects in the city in the future.  For the near future however, this gigantic pride of lions will add to the already 500 plus leonine symbols throughout the city.

Image Credit Flickr User Gazza of Bath

If you ever needed an excuse to put Bath on your itinerary, this is a good one.  Go on, take a dip in Bath and have a roaring time!

Thanks especially to Flickr user Fortaguaga and Gazza of Bath who have kindly given permission for their copyrighted pictures to be used here.

Amazing Star Trek Sculpture At Microsoft

Image Credit Flickr User Wonderlane

Microsoft’s Studio D offices in Redmond, Washington have something that every Star Trek fan would love to have in their own home.  However, it probably came at quite a price!  The work called Mirror Universe by sculptor Devorah Sperber is based on images from the 1967 episode Mirror, Mirror.  In this episode the crew encounter their evil counterparts from a parallel universe.

Image Credit Flickr User Wonderlane

The sculpture itself explores the relationship between art and popular science and how it relates to larger issues of a metaphysical nature.  When we look at something our consciousness sees a stable and predictable world and this is what interests the artist.  Part of a highly acclaimed body of work, this must be a wonderful sight to see as you enter your workplace each morning (as if Microsoft employees go home anyway!).

Image Credit Flickr User Wonderlane

The sculpture is composed of a series of very familiar characters in the process of beaming up.  Spock, Kirk and McCoy are actually made up of semi translucent beads as the close ups here show.  When viewed up close the image blurs somewhat but from a distance are almost photographic in their realism.

Image Credit Flickr User Wonderlane

The latent images within the work – and its cultural resonance – compete with the objects from which it was made, spools, chenille stems and beads.  They combine to form something of a poetic illusion.  Poetic illusion or not, would you want to be the person who has to dust this each morning?

Image Credit Flickr User Wonderlane

Sperber is well known for this combination of materials and often her work involves optical illusions which in its entirety this work is, effectively.  The thread and beads work together to form an almost pixilated and thrilling version of this iconic image.  There is also a passing nod to the pointillist and abstract movements – and we suspect that Sperber may have a well developed sense of humor too.

Image Credit Flickr User Wonderlane

Put simply, what a wonderful piece of art.  Go on, admit it.  When you saw this your first thought was I want one. 

Here is some video...




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