Gulliver - sand sculpture

The wonderful political satire that is Gulliver's Travels was written by Irish author Johnathan Swift and It has been the subject of three of my sculptures so far. I love the surrealist ideas in the book with the different beings that inhabit fictional lands. I remember the story from a very abridged version when I was a child. Then when I got older I had an urge to read all the classics in their original form.

The ye oldie English that Gulliver was written in made for a hard time but when I discovered that if One read to thyself in this oldie English accent the language really flowed.

This sculpture was made in 2008 in the last throws of the Celtic tiger when there was still a bit of money sloshing around, just before the global recession. I remember listening to the radio while I was making it, very interested in how the world was going pear shaped due the the greed at the top and the stupidity of people. Ireland could very well have been a chapter in the book.

One city one book

For the 'One city one book festival' they had chosen the novel and had many events on during the summer to celebrate it. We (Niall Magee, Alan Magee and myself which made up a partnership called Duthain Dealbh, Now renamed to the English 'Fleeting Sculpture') were asked to create a series of sculptures to depict scenes from the book.

Location location

The location was to be right in the financial services center of Dublin city where all that was wrong with the Irish economy was overseen. On visiting the location with our client it very quickly became apparent that there wasn't much space to create such a project. So, still wanting to spend their money, we thought quickly and suggested that we could make a sculpture inside this arch which was smack bang in the middle of where they wanted the sculptures.

I took on Gulliver and we had four other smaller pieces inside the CHQ building. (This is a crappy upmarket shopping center with more staff than visitors)

I wanted to make a life sized Gulliver but due to limited space the arch seemed like a good element to give it the wow factor. Gulliver was to sit under the arch with a lilliputian in his hand. I wanted him to have an expression of wonderment at this small creature who he could crush at any moment as he is reading him the riot act.

Challenges

Compacting sand inside the arch was a difficult challenge and not wanting to put too much pressure on the stonework I used some Styrofoam at his back which I then covered in a thin layer of sand. This made sure the sand wasn't actually leaning on the stonework but the sculpture appeared to.

I found it necessary to make a book underneath the sculpture as a plinth because I had nowhere to hide the remaining sand which I carved off to make his body. This meant that Gulliver was a bit smaller than I wanted but I think it worked out ok.

Working in this location was a great experience although the men in suits who frequented the area gave me no interaction. They would pass by quickly in the morning with no recognition of what I was building and then again in the evening going the other way with not a glance in my direction. I suppose they must have had other things on their minds. For the seven days it took me to make him I hardly spoke to anyone.

But I did have one interaction when I finished the piece and that was when someone at night smashed the Lilliputian and hand. Luckily I was able to re-carve him without too much trouble.

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Ps

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