Chinese sculptor’s floating art finally rocks up at Australian festival
Better late than never for Zhan Wang’s glittering contribution to open-air sculpture exhibition in Perth
Chinese artist Zhan Wang’s Floating Rock very nearly never made it to this year’s “Sculpture by the Sea” festival, which is currently being held in the Western Australia city of Perth – and one of the largest free-to-the-public outdoor sculpture exhibitions held anywhere in the world.
Ironically, Zhan had suffered problems getting his creation onto the water: due to an issue with a freight forwarder, his monster sculpture, which stands two metres tall and four metres wide, was not loaded onto its scheduled ship in Malaysia, and so missed the festival’s start date of March 2.
The logistical obstacle was finally hurdled, however, and art lovers and sun worshippers gathered on Perth’s Cottesloe Beach on Wednesday afternoon to witness Zhan’s massive stainless-steel boulder – which the Beijing-based artist created especially for “Sculpture by the Sea”, now in its 14th year – was hoisted from a flat-bed truck and towed by boat out into the turquoise waters, there to be anchored to the sea floor and lazily bob on Indian Ocean waves.
