‘Battutosaurus’ is conceived as a representation of the tensions between the handmade and the industrial, the technological and the crafted, the lasting and the fleeting. The sculpture is created through a combination of CAD drawings and water-jet cutting, and then worked by hand using traditional Italian lathe cutting techniques to create texture and rhythm. 

 

In today’s world, we often find ourselves struggling between the value of the handmade vs industrial production, evident even in the art world with the dominance of figures such as Jeff Koons and Damian Hirst, who rarely have direct contact with the making of their work. ‘Battutosaurus’ is an attempt to bridge that divide; he is made using a combination of modern technology, and techniques that have existed for centuries, and is both universal in appeal, and personal in conception. 

 

I chose the iconic children’s puzzle as the form for the sculpture in order to create a narrative that includes not only histories of the earth, but also our own more personal stories. Its popularity and the relationship many people have to it instantly triggers memories of childhood and nostalgia. However, although it is a representation of a dinosaur, it’s more specifically the skeleton of one, which adds a slightly darker twist to what is, at first glance, a fun innocent toy. The interplay between childhood and death in the same object evokes everything that comes between - life, its successes and failures, achievements and dreams lost, and how these broader themes can be presented through objects. 

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