When Sculptures Come Alive (8 Photos vol. 3)

Sculptures with lives of their own

A curled tail or a lowered head can make a sculpture seem alive. These eight works capture animals and people resting, climbing or keeping watch.

More: When Sculptures Come Alive (9 Photos vol. 2)

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🐂 Just Resting — By Andoni Bastarrika

The lowered head, folded legs and loose-looking skin make this bull seem heavy with sleep. Andoni Bastarrika sculpted the sand bull on the seafront promenade in Zarautz, Spain, in 2019.

💡 Nerd Fact: Bastarrika discovered sand sculpting while playing on the beach with his daughters. He then spent two years practicing during the quieter months before feeling ready to share his work, as he recalled in an interview with My Modern Met.

More: Sand Sculptures by Andoni Bastarrika

🔗 Follow Andoni Bastarrika on Instagram

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🐱 Up the Trees

A whole gang of snow cats has scrambled onto the tree trunks, paws spread and tails curled.

More: Snow Cats Climbing Trees

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🗡️ The Sentinels — By Philip Jackson

Three bronze figures stand in the grass, their faces hidden beneath wide, pointed headdresses. Small hands emerge from their robes.

💡 Artist Fact: Philip Jackson deliberately kept working in the classical figurative tradition while much of the art world favored abstraction, according to his official biography.

More: Haunting Sculptures by Philip Jackson

🔗 Visit Philip Jackson’s website

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🐚 A Small, Safe Place — By Debra Bernier

A sleeping baby curls into the hollow of a piece of driftwood, with a spiral shell beside it.

💡 Artist Fact: Debra Bernier is a Canadian sculptor and the founder of Shaping Spirit Sculptures; her figurative work explores healing, femininity and the human spirit, according to her official biography.

More: Driftwood Sculptures by Debra Bernier

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🕳️ A Moment Alone — By Isaac Cordal in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mexico 🇲🇽

This tiny suited figure sits at the mouth of a green pipe, head lowered and hands resting on its knees. Photographed in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mexico, it appears in Isaac Cordal’s 2013 Cement Eclipses archive.

💡 Project Fact: Isaac Cordal’s Cement Eclipses has used miniature, gray-suited figures since 2006 to draw attention to overlooked urban spaces.

More: Isaac Cordal’s 2013 Collection

🔗 Visit Isaac Cordal’s website

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🦏 Head Down, Horn Forward — Wara Art Festival in Niigata, Japan 🇯🇵

With its head lowered and feet planted wide, this giant straw rhinoceros looks ready to charge. It was part of the 2017 Wara Art Festival at Uwasekigata Park in Niigata. Students from Musashino Art University and local residents created the festival’s animals together.

💡 Craft Fact: Wara Art uses toba-ami, a traditional straw-weaving technique, to turn loose rice straw into sheets. Local farmers do this weaving. Straw craft once provided winter income when snow prevented farm work; the sculptures give that knowledge a new use.

More: Giant Straw Sculptures at the Wara Art Festival

🔗 Visit Niigata’s Wara Art guide

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🦢 A Bench With Personality

Two long necks rise from the seat and turn toward the path. Even empty, this swan-shaped bench looks like a pair of birds keeping an eye on the people passing by.

More: Sculptures With Unique Creativity

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🌊 A Face Among the Shells — By Debra Bernier

Pink and cream shells surround Debra Bernier’s sculpted face and spread across its forehead, cheeks and chin. The closed eyes give it a resting expression against the rough driftwood.

More: Driftwood Sculptures by Debra Bernier

🔗 Follow Debra Bernier on Facebook

Which one is your favorite? Tell us in the comments.