ANIMA II
Bravery | Fury | Strength
I chose the Spanish Toro Bravo (“Brave Bull”) fighting bulls as the subject for my second sculpture in the Anima series. With El Bravo, I chose to highlight the strength and fury of these powerful creatures, literally bred and forced to do battle with us – an interaction which might echo a trend in our relationship with the wider natural world. El Bravo means “the brave” or “the wild” in Spanish
Always beginning with a CAD drawing to accurately design the framework and capture the overall shape of a sculpture, I enlarged the shoulders and gave the bull an exaggerated front-leaning stance as if about to charge. I built the frame in reclaimed timber & Oak and then constructed the sculpture using angular, geometric planes. Finishing off the Douglas Fir cladding using the traditional Japanese Shou Sugi Ban (charring) technique, El Bravo has been naturally sealed and weather-protected for long-term outdoor display in the UK climate. The process has also helped to emphasize the deep, natural grain of the timber to mirror the bull’s dynamic anatomy. The horns are finished with a contrasting, weathered paint-wash and faint blended charring on the tips. The head freely moves in the wind (it could be hooked up to a motor to constantly move if desired). The tail is segmented and can be moved into any position.
MATERIALS: Reclaimed timber & Oak frame, Shou Sugi Ban Douglas Fir cladding DIMENSIONS: 1.25m (shoulder to shoulder) x 2.5m (ground to shoulder) x 5m (tail to horn) LOGISTICS: 250 – 500kg. Delivery will be included in sale. Can come apart into four sections for transport if required. Freestanding on flat ground but can be further anchored into turf or bolted to a pad if desired. LIFETIME: Due to the intensive shou sugi ban treatment El Bravo has gone through, he is expected to last decades rather than years outdoors (and much longer indoors ofcourse). Nevertheless, when the time eventually comes, the cladding has been designed to make replacing it straightforward so El Bravo can keep on living on.
El Bravo is #2 in Zac’s Anima series. The word “Anima” has its most ancient roots in Latin and originally meant “breath” or “wind”. Over time though, it also came to mean “soul” or “life” and we derive many words – including “animal” – from it today. With this series of sculptures, Zac aspires to breathe a little anima into his animal subjects, creating totemic symbols that distil particular characteristics from each sculpture. The Anima series is both a celebration of the natural world and a reflection of our relationship to it.
