In this artwork, how is the Design and construction discussed?
The design is also known as Forme de Lutin (Gnome Shape), and the 3.2-metre sculpture has multiple smaller copies around the world. The sculpture in Caracas was based on one of the smaller forms, which were created in 1949, and was both cast in the Susse foundry and placed on the campus in 1954.On developing the sculpture from its smaller design, Arp said in 1953:
Au réveil, j'ai trouvé sur ma selle de sculpteur une petite forme espiègle, éveillée et d'une certaine obésité, telle le ventre d'un luth. Il me semblait qu'elle évoquait un lutin. Je l'ai donc nommée ainsi. Et voici qu'un jour, ce petit personnage de lutin, par un médium vénézuélien, se trouve tout à coup père d'un géant. Ce fils géant ressemble à son père comme un œuf à un autre, une figue à une autre, une cloche à une autre. Comme le père, il est difficile à définir. Et comme toutes les définitions, celle donnée le lundi était différente de celle du mardi. Toute définition de la matière, de l’atome, depuis les présocratiques jusqu'à nos jours ... quel nuage troublant! Était-ce ceci qui décidait le jeune géant à devenir berger de nuages?
When I woke up, I found on my sculptor's bench a small, playful, lively form of a certain obesity, like the belly of a lute. It seemed to me that it evoked a leprechaun (lutin). So I named it that way. And now one day, this little elf character, through a Venezuelan medium, suddenly finds himself the father of a giant. This giant son looks like his father like an egg to another, a fig to another, a bell to another. Like the father, it is difficult to define. And like all definitions, the one given on Monday was different from the one on Tuesday. Any definition of matter, of the atom, from the pre-Socratic to the present day ... what a disturbing cloud! Was this what made the young giant decide to become a cloud shepherd?
It is said that Arp's creative influence for the sculpture was based on his reaction to the Second World War. The sculpture's wavy form simulates the natural curves of clouds, hills, and lakes, and expresses Arp's opposition to machines that caused wars. It has elements of Surrealism and Dada.The sculpture sits just outside the Plaza Cubierta by the Aula Magna; behind it is a large ceramic mural by Mateo Manaure.
metre Susse foundry Mateo Manaure Surrealism Venezuela Aula Magna Dada mural