The painting The Whale Beached between Scheveningen and Katwijk, with Elegant Sightseers by Esaias van de Velde (1617) was a point of departure for the Leviathan sculptures.

Factum Arte´s Irene Gaumé prepared a 3D model combining the 17th Century Dutch work with a 1956 film version of Moby Dick by John Huston. Representing Capitan Ahab doomed in a deathly embrace with the white whale, Dawood's work suggests the need to find a more radical, positivist vision of co-habiting between human and marine species.

3D model revisiting van de Velde´s and John Huston´s work

Detail of the 3D model

 

The printed 3D model served as the basis for a silicone mould, which was cast in iron-filled resin. The sculpture was coated ferric acid to obtain an aged appearance.

The Leviathan sculptures were coated with ferric acid

 

Leviathan, details