Flight of the Langoustine

Flight of the Langoustine will be the second sculpture for Hove Plinth, planned to be installed spring 2020. It is created by Brighton based sculptor Pierre Diamantopoulo. The sculpture, selected from our first call to artists, was a clear favourite with the public. It is made up of four life-size bronze figures flying through a steel grid. It was inspired by a discarded and mangled lobster pot that the artist had found on Brighton beach. In his imagination, the washed-up object that had seemingly helped the lobsters escape, translated itself into a wider story of human exodus and release - a dash for freedom. Diamantopoulo describes the figures as "at once profound, frivolous and boisterous, occupying the air like a flock of birds and inspired by modern dance choreography".

November 2019 update : Sculpting of figures completed

The four lifesize figures have now been been sculpted and are 'resting in Diamantopoulo's studio in East Sussex, awaiting the next step in the proocess which will involve the foundry producing the moulds for the eventual casting in bronze. The detailed work that has gone into the sculpting is mind boggling and the figures are truly magnificent. v

Producing the sculpture on this scale takes more than a year. It involves firstly creating an armature from which to make the figures in a non-drying sculpting material. Moulds are then taken of the figures to enable bronze casting at the foundry. Finally the steel grid will be fabricated and the sculpture assembled in its final form.

 Click below to see the preparatory stage.

 A Sculpture in Bronze Begins.