In November 2016, the Italian artist, Quayola, commissioned Factum Arte to produce a series of works based on 3D scans of the famous sculpture in the Vatican Museum Laocoön and His Sons. Using custom-made software in his studio in London, Quayola broke down the figure of the scanned sculpture into fragments of simplified and magnified 3D data.

The fragments were 3D printed through a process known as Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), in which plastic particles are heated with a laser and fused into a single, solid object. Once printed in three-dimensions, all surface inconsistencies were smoothed and silicone moulds were subsequently taken in preparation for casting in an iron-filled epoxy resin.

3D print prototype

Silicone moulds were made for each 3D print

Smoothing the surface of the 3D print

 

 

 

All fragments were chemically treated for a patina effect, while the geometric sections were further treated to halt the oxidation process and obtain a more dramatic effect.

Quayola and Factum Arte´s Francesco Cigognetti observing Fragments before patina application

Casted Fragments

The piece after oxidation

Fragments exhibited at Bitforms Gallery (NY) from February to April 2017

 

Two Fragments were on display at the Bitforms Gallery stand in Art Brussels on April 21- 24, 2016.

Six Fragments will be exhibited at the Bitforms Gallery (NY) from February 25 - April 9, 2017.

Visit Quayola´s webpage.