This is the second octopus in the series and creation time was similar to the first of 10 months and about 300 hours.
She weighs 45 kg in total and is sitting on a petrified Kauri base sourced from the Coromandel, New Zealand and estimated to be about 25,000 years old.
Approx dimensions are: 800mm L x 600mm W x 500mm H
There is a shaft under the plate that goes right through the block and it is anchored with 2 nuts and washers.
I built and attached a formation on the plate that represents a fumerole found on the ocean floor that emits gas and heated water upon which many life forms are to be found.
Into this are placed the 3 steel shafts which are attached to the octopus body. The sculpture is designed to be separated for transportation. The shafts are wrapped in small coils of old wire that represents the gases emitted from the fumerole.
A specially constructed reinforced box was made for her so transportation anywhere is no problem.
The fabrication of the octopus herself is fairly straight forward with the techniques I refined on the first one being applied.
All the surface texturing is done by hand after releasing from the mold.
She differs from the original in that she is sitting on a much bigger base and in order to make sure that the base did not overwhelm the octopus, I increased the size of her head and extended the webs between the arms and arranged the configuration of the arms to complement the shape of the base.
As before, the fine job that Alex and her team at Skellerns foundry, Auckland did in casting her, made my job of putting her together that much easier and enjoyable.
Thanks to Perry Trotter for his work in photographing her in his studio.
She is now in the acclaimed Gallery Pacific in Queen St, Auckland.
April 2022.