People have been making intricate and beautiful creations out of wire since early Egypt. More modern artists have converted this medium to larger scaled projects like wire sculptures. One of those artists is Martin Debenham; a British contemporary sculptor, he creates stainless steel wire sculptures inspired by fantasy and nature.

Martin is self-taught and his collection of wire sculptures are expanding every day. He works with a stainless steel wire between 1.6mm and 5mm diameter. That’s just thin enough to be manipulated by hand or with pliers, but thick enough to be welded.

Sculpting with wire

To get control over the shape, Martin uses the same basic method as normal clay modelling; model the visible silhouette as accurately as possible and then rotate the piece a bit and repeat. This technique gives Martin’s wire sculptures the appearance of 3D line drawings. Once a section of wire is attached at two points it becomes structurally secure and he can move on to the next.

Most of his metal masterpieces are designed for outdoor display, so when they’re placed into natural environments, they conjure up mythical narratives while glimmering in sunlight. The majority of the wire sculptures are inspired by fantasy creatures and nature like languid mermaids, or eagles that seemingly hovering midair. And while these sculptures appear to be light and airy, they’re actually quite heavy. His Golden Eagle, for example, weights 10kg.

These expressive forms showcase the artist’s boundless imagination. If you’re interested in adding wire sculpting to you artistic skills, or you want to view more of his work, visit Martin’s website. Fore more on outdoor sculptures, take a look at the five best sculptural parks in the world.

Source: https://mymodernmet.com/wire-sculptures-martin-debenham/