{"product_id":"faceted-gorilla-white-marble-statue-150cm","title":"Faceted Gorilla White Marble Statue - 150cm","description":"\u003ch3\u003eDescription\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eA gorilla stands on all fours, head raised, its knuckles resting on the slab. The animal is cut into flat triangular planes meeting at sharp arrises, not modelled. Shoulder, back, haunch and forearm are each resolved into planes, and the face is faceted too, though the brow, eyes and nostrils are cut naturalistically within it. Both forelimbs rest on their knuckles. A thin rectangular slab carries it. The stone is a white marble whose grey veining runs in strong diagonals over back, haunch and slab alike.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eKnuckles True to One Plane\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eA gorilla on all fours does not stand on its palms, it stands on the knuckles of both forelimbs - and that is the whole load path for the front half of two tonnes of marble. The four knuckle faces have to finish dead level with each other and with the two hind feet, on one plane, or the animal rocks; and because they are faceted rather than modelled there is no soft surface to take up the difference. They are therefore cut early, while the limbs are still oversized, brought to one plane with a straightedge across all four, and then protected for the rest of the job. Every facet above them is worked to that datum rather than to the slab.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe veining in this block is the boldest in the tranche, and faceting is the treatment that shows it best: each flat plane presents an unbroken area of stone, so a vein crosses it whole instead of being wrapped away round a curve. At 150cm the raised head is near chest height and meets you almost square on. That argues for close approach and raking light - a courtyard, a modern entrance, a terrace, a hall - rather than distance, where the faceting reads as roughness and the veining disappears. It sits with contemporary architecture and quarrels with a planted border, where hard arrises argue against everything soft.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eFaceting Reads the Veining Whole\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eSixteen to eighteen weeks. Cutting the knuckles of both forelimbs true to one plane governs how the whole animal stands. The slab is dressed and the animal roughed deliberately over-square and blocky, because faceting works by slicing planes away from a prism and never by softening a curve. The knuckle faces are brought to a single datum plane early and protected. The large planes of back and haunch follow, each taken down in flat passes and checked across both diagonals, and the face is cut last. Every facet is cut and none is cast; the gorilla takes no pin and no filler. Some 1,969kg as one faceted mass, gantry-borne and bedded onto a prepared footing. Our main studios are in the UK (Birmingham) and Dubai, with additional global workshops.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrimates are scarce through \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/animal-sculptures\"\u003eanimal sculptures\u003c\/a\u003e, and faceted form fills \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/geometric-sculptures\"\u003egeometric sculptures\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eSpecification\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003ctable class=\"spec_table\"\u003e\u003ctbody\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eHeight\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e150cm\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eBase\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eIncluded\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eMaterial\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eHand-Carved Natural Marble\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/tbody\u003e\u003c\/table\u003e","brand":"Giant Sculptures","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53837288112475,"sku":"MST-ANI-140","price":22249.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0869\/3383\/2027\/files\/MST-ANI-140_1.jpg?v=1787180531","url":"https:\/\/giant-sculptures.com\/products\/faceted-gorilla-white-marble-statue-150cm","provider":"Giant Sculptures","version":"1.0","type":"link"}