Types of Metal Wall Sculpture

One could be pardoned if, like Rip van Winkle awakening after a 20-year sleep, he finds himself most pleasantly surrounded by a plethora of objets d’art that have mushroomed, replacing the conventional framed photographs that have perpetually embellished walls. Van Winkle would be startled to find art created of metal embellishing his walls, metal that he formerly believed was serviceable only in the construction of buildings. He’s even more delightfully astounded to find that such a material – which sometimes includes components one can only acquire in scrap yards – could be transmuted into a thing of beauty and a bundle of paradoxes. And even more so he is puzzled that metal, which is normally considered heavy weight, should be able to flutter with the slightest burst of wind. It’s cold, yet as a metal wall sculpture or any abstract metal art, the emotions it elicits is anything other than cold. He’s also stunned to find them everywhere – for instance as a 16-meter, 50-ton vermilion leviathan like Alexander Calder’s Flamingo which ornaments the Federal Plaza in Chicago, or as an exquisitely delicate and life-like praying mantis embellishing a lighted corner. Yes, from wrought iron wine art and musical metal artwork manufactured for indoor use to metal wall sculptures and grilles seen in public sites, metal wall decor art is now a fashionable decor essential that is here to stay. What follows are some facts that metal art fanciers should know.

Metal Wall Sculptures: Casting
Casting is the technique that is used for producing some metal sculptures, and it is sometimes alluded to as lost-wax casting. One of the most notable in this type is Benvenuto Cellini’s Perseus with the Head of Medusa statue in bronze with its startling detail and ample grace. In this instance, the artist pours liquefied metal (either aluminum, bronze, steel, or some other alloy) into a mold, allows the work to cure, and then removes it to expose the sculpture within. Next, the work of art is cleaned up, and oftentimes finished with a patina. Casting dates back 6,000 years, its oldest existing example being a copper frog from 3,200 B.C.

Metal Wall Sculptures: Manufactured

Manufactured metal wall sculptures are normally welded together, sometimes in unison with lighting accents that can make a beautiful work of fine art that can transform a uninteresting room. This type of artwork will endow any area of the house with instant zing, grace, and panache.
Patinized copper abstract modern-day wall art is an example. Additional examples may include abstract brass or steel sculptures that have been given a transparent tint finish utilizing a torch. All of them share the same three characteristics: handcrafted, painted by hand and different. There are all sizes on the market. Some are intended for outdoors, others for inside. Each artist has its own expressive style, and some have even gone so far as to differentiate in one specified category, developing their skills to flawlessness. There’s one artist, for illustration, who specializes in animals and insects, and whose frogs and praying mantises are unbelievably life-like and look like they couldn’t possibly be constructed of metal. There’s practically everything for everyone. There are human forms, animal forms, and yet still others which can’t be described by any other adjective than "alien" form.

Metal Wall Sculptures: Re-Purposed Artwork
One artist in this category – which is likewise known as "found object," "objet trouve," "readymade," or "junk art" -- distinguishes his work as "sculpture fabricated from twentieth century by-products," which ably describes art of this kind. There is a significance between found art and fabricated art, namely that found art begins with a product that has already been finished, such as a battered car fender, the base of a table lamp, or a piece of copper tubing, and then changed into something entirely unique. In this sense, found art finds kinship with the green movement slogan: re-use, re purpose, recycle.

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