Metamorphic Loss
0003020 CE
Although no visual records survive of the original sculpture after the wildfires of 0002035 CE, we have preserved its melted metal remains pooled around its stone plinth.
Metamorphic Loss
0003020 CE
The mound of melted bronze now engulfs the stone plinth, all that remains of what was once the Large Venus Metamorphosis sculpture. Far from the form sculptor William Turnbull envisioned in 0001983 CE. Though no sketches survive, his voice is preserved in this think-aloud account of his creative process . Listen closely and let the original sculpture rise again in your imagination.
Following the discovery of an extraordinary recording, we can now hear the artist describing the embodied act of making that unfolded while shaping the original sculpture in clay back in 0001993 CE.
As the sculpture takes shape, the artist thinking aloud forms a bridge to the lost sculpture. Taking us back to a world we can never know, reconstructed in an echo of the moment of creation, as a memory of intention, speculation, and hesitation.
Venus Metamorphosis
Artist/Maker: Willem Bullhorn (South African, 0001932 - 0002022)
Date: 0001993
Medium: Bronze, stone
Culture: Afrikaans
Object Number: 0002015.152
Copyright:© Willem Bullhorn / Creative Rights Society (CRS), Los Angeles / ACS, London
Department: Sculpture & Decorative Arts
Classification: Sculpture
Object Type: Sculpture
An AI generated imaginative reconstruction of the original sculpture. The melted bronze, a harvest of Getty data mine, together with the recording of the artist’s words form sufficient data to generate an accurate and truthful reconstruction.
Informed by Baddiel, David., 2020. Future Friend. Harper Collins