{"product_id":"standing-gorilla-black-marble-statue-200cm","title":"Standing Gorilla Black Marble Statue - 200cm","description":"\u003ch3\u003eDescription\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eA gorilla stands on all fours, weight forward on both knuckles and the head raised. The shoulders are massive and the back slopes away behind, and the whole animal is modelled in large smooth simplified volumes with no hair texture anywhere. The face alone is worked in detail - the brow ridge, the flattened nose and the close-set eyes all fully cut. There is no base at all; the animal stands on its own four limbs. Very dark marble, distinctly blue-black rather than neutral, polished to a soft sheen.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eLeaving the Hair Out Entirely\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eA gorilla is a hairy animal and this one has no hair at all, which is the whole decision behind the piece and a much harder way to carve it. Combed or incised hair does a great deal of quiet work: it breaks up a surface, it hides a plane that is slightly off, and it gives the eye something to read where the form underneath is only approximately right. Take it away and every square inch is pure volume - the swell of the shoulder into the neck, the fall of the back, the set of the knuckles - with nothing to distract from any of it. So the modelling is taken several stages further than it would be under a hair texture, and the face, which IS fully worked, is cut last so that it is judged against volumes that have stopped moving.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe stone here is not the neutral black of our polished pieces - it is measurably and visibly BLUE-black, cool right through, and it is the only stone of its kind in this range. That changes what it sits beside. At 200cm overall this spreads more than it rises - a wide low mass rather than a tall one. Against warm stone, brick or terracotta the blue reads as a clash; against pale grey render, granite paving, water, zinc or open sky it reads as intended and the cool cast becomes the point. It has no base and stands on its own four limbs, so a level prepared pad is all it needs - and the soft sheen rather than a mirror polish means it holds its modelling even in flat light. The figure quoted is the piece overall, and this is a crouching animal: it reads as a mass at your feet, not as a standing silhouette.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eA Blue-Black Stone, Which Is Rare\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eTwenty-four to twenty-six weeks, and most of it is modelling rather than finishing. Leaving out the hair entirely is the decision, and it puts everything on the volumes. The animal is roughed standing on all fours, the four limbs and knuckles left as solid masses since they carry everything and there is no slab beneath. The shoulders, back and haunches are then brought down and reworked further than a haired surface would need. The face is cut last, against volumes that are already final, and the whole is brought to a soft even sheen. One piece of dark marble, with no pin and no filler at any point. Some 4,668kg on its own four limbs, craned onto a poured concrete foundation. Our main studios are in the UK (Birmingham) and Dubai, with additional global workshops.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrimates stand within \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/animal-sculptures\"\u003eanimal sculptures\u003c\/a\u003e, and simplified form among \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/abstract-sculptures\"\u003eabstract 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\u003e200cm\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":53843255722331,"sku":"MST-ANI-180","price":30593.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0869\/3383\/2027\/files\/MST-ANI-180_1.jpg?v=1787234865","url":"https:\/\/giant-sculptures.com\/products\/standing-gorilla-black-marble-statue-200cm","provider":"Giant Sculptures","version":"1.0","type":"link"}