water o1
15’ x 5’ . |. C O M M I S S I O N | 2 0 2 1
In 2021 I was hired by the international firm, Afkar Architects, to create art curated by SD Supply & Design, for 3 walls in a set of villas on Jumeirah Bay Island in Dubai. This is the story of the inspiration, fabrication, and installation of wall sculpture # 1, titled WATER o1.
The proposition was to create tactile, dimensional art, in a cool marine palette, to span an area of 15 feet by 5 feet and to be inspired by the ocean, sunlight, waves, water, swirls, and bubbles, to be installed in pieces directly on the wall. I was provided a set of Master Bedroom elevation drawings, which included the dimensions and location of built-ins, furniture, walls, windows, etc. in addition to all textile swatches to be used in the space.
I then got to work creating a design concept, material recommendations, a working color palette, and mapped out a timeline. Once all was approved, the contract was signed, and the deposit received, the real work began! The fabrication process was based on the idea of mass producing hundreds of plaster vessels or bowls, that I would fill with pools of resin. I started with 21 unique hand formed clay bowls, which I used to cast 21 silicone molds, from which I poured in plaster to make hundreds of bowls.Then they went to my amazing team of help to be sanded smooth and painted.
Next I came up with the palette of marine hues that would work with the collection of fabric and textile samples I’d been provided. Once the color families were established, the bowls were filled with resin, a process that involved a series of steps of mixing, layering, dripping, swirling, and basically playing with alcohol ink, metallic dust, marine pigments, dyes, silicone oil, and liquid gold… with the goal to recreate deep pools that resembled water, sky, light, little galaxies… It was a really fun, mesmerizing, experimental process.
Once cured, I laid the bowls out in the wall design I’d sketched, digitized and had printed out at full scale, numbering each bowl on its back and at its corresponding spot on the paper template. Next leg… packing, creating customs documents, labeling and shipping. Off to Dubai! Once the shipment made it thru customs and was delivered to the properties, it was time for my assistant Sara and I to head to the UAE for installation!
Once the boxes were unpacked we got to work laying out the template first on the floor and then on the wall to make sure we had all the right pieces in all the right spots. We did this while the villas construction team, consisting of at least a hundred men, built us a scaffold. Finally - installation! It was a challenge creating objects to be installed on a wall (halfway across the world) that you have never met before, but armed with our markers, converters, extension cards, drill bits, drafting tape, heavy duty adhesive, fans, ventilators, Spotify playlists, Bose speakers, and a can-do attitude, we worked for two and a half days from sun up to sundown. Hot, dusty, exhausted, and with the first wall complete, we ramped up for the second wall installation in the second master bedroom, GARDEN o1.
