Recycled Materials Sculpture – Rafi 2018 – Awarded

Two things that have been on my to do list for quite some time was to create a life size sculpture, and create something awesome using garbage.

I think I can cross both of those off my list with this awesome Nature Of Being Sculpture that I created for the Artel Gallery show called “RECYCLE, REUSE, REPURPOSE… REPEAT.”

This sculpture is modeled after a series of mine called the nature of being. This series combines human beings with trees to create a beautiful symbol of being rooted yet consistently expanding towards the heavens. Connected, growing, evolving, expanding, and beautiful is the message that I want to convey.

In this piece I wanted to expand on that message, by using old plastic bags to create the form and pose. I wanted the piece to be dynamic, to show some distress, yet be fluid and organic in its movement.

The message is open for interpretation, but in my mind, it is nature reclaiming the world, and bouncing back from the brink.

This piece was very challenging and an absolute roller coaster ride to create… I enjoyed ever minute of it! Below you can see the steps I took, forming the skeleton, adhering the plastic bags, creating muscle structure, creating a fiberglass shell, melting and adhering plastic bags, shaping the details on the body, and painting.