PIERRE DIAMANTOPOULO

Journal

A Public Art Commission in Bronze and Steel —

4 metres x 3 metres approximately.

“Flight of the Langoustine”

Awarded an inaugural place on The Hove Plinth

The Hove Plinth, King's Esplanade, South East Coast, England

Installed September 14th 2023 :

Watch videos of the sculpture in progress and Pierre’s sculpting method for making the figures life-size: click the buttons below.

In 2015 Pierre Diamantopoulo’s bronze and steel sculpture “Flight of the Langoustine” was commissioned and awarded a place on The Hove Plinth as part of The Plinth’s inaugural commissioning programme.

In September, 2019, the last of the four life-size original figures was completed by Pierre in his studio. The four figures were all sculpted by hand in non-drying modelling materials.

During 2020 and into 2021 the original finished clay figures were in storage waiting for the funding to catch up for the next stages - making the moulds for casting into wax, then into bronze, in a UK foundry.

September 14th 2023 :The completed Bronze and steel sculpture was installed on the Have Plinth. Launched by the Mayor of Brighton and Hove.

The idea behind Flight of the Langoustine

“Flight of the Langoustine” was the first in the series of sculptures made on Brighton beach after a bit of beach-combing. A storm had deposited a mangled lobster pot yards from my first studio under the arches. In my imagination, this washed-up object had been a means of escape for the lobsters and this translated itself into a human story of exodus and release – a dash for freedom."

My work and its resonance in this sculpture

"In this sculpture as in much of my work, a liberating energy is combined with a profound sense of unrest. These androgynous and anonymous figures are flying in defiance or fleeing, challenged by their environment.

They balance improbably on geometric planes, perched or floating freely on forms forged to suit an allegorical purpose. Behind it all is a discomfiting sense of precariousness, contained by a carefully calculated composition."

Funding

Hove Civic Society had a Project Team dedicated to this enterprise, actively garnering the support of developers and major corporate organisations in the city. They already had partner agreements with the Royal Pavilion and Museum and Brighton and Hove City Council.

Their patrons are Sir Timothy Sainsbury and sculptor Philip Jackson, CVO DL FRBS. The project was supported by the Arts Council England and Lottery funding. Planning permissions had been granted for the Plinth and the sculpture.

At the close of 2015, the Project received significant funding from the Headley Trust and The Argus Star Award for Contribution to Arts and Culture.

Funding is always a challenge; one which had made progress so much harder and slower due to the 2020 lock-downs.

Inspired by the Trafalgar Square Plinth, there will be a continuous display of important artworks going forwards, creating a portfolio of works with the aim to make Brighton & Hove "The City of Sculpture".