GEORGE TOWN, Aug 1 — It’s a wire sculpture that is both an elephant and two giraffes, depending on how you view it.
Made by French sculptor Matthieu Robert-Ortis, the sculpture is now in Penang.
The Robert-Ortis sculpture drew a lot of attention when a video of it was uploaded on Facebook in January this year by musician Max Repetti. The video has since been viewed over 85 million times.
Now, this renowned work of art, titled The Revolution of Giraffes, is at Dewan Sri Pinang here in conjunction with George Town Festival 2016. The art work is sponsored by George Town Heritage Hotels.
Another piece by Robert-Ortis, The King of Drones — which is a sculpture of two eagles when viewed from one side and of a drone when seen from another side — is also on display at the same site.
Both sculptures were commissioned by GTF for this year’s festival and will be displayed at the ground floor of the hall throughout this month.
According to the 26-year-old artist, it usually takes him about one month to create a large sculpture and two to three weeks to create a smaller piece.
“I love to create works with different perspectives, I like to create the anamorphose and metamorphose,” he said.
He explained an anamorphose is an abstract sculpture that is also a figure when viewed from a different angle.
“A metamorphose is where you see an animal on one perspective and it is transformed into another animal in another perspective,” he said.
The talented artist, who is inspired by artists like George Rousse, Felice Varini and Markus Raets, has created 42 wire sculptures and taken part in seven exhibitions in the past three years.
After his exhibition in Penang, Robert-Ortis will embark on his next project, creating a sculpture for film director Tim Burton who is known for his gothic and quirky fantasy animated films.
“I will start work on a project for Tim Burton’s film in September when I get back to France,” he said.
The sculptures are open for viewing on weekends when there are performances at the Dewan Sri Pinang.
Find out more about the month-long George Town Festival at georgetownfestival.com.
