When it came time to conjure CARBON COPY into reality, we knew we couldn’t do it alone. We decided to hire a fabricator, in part because we knew this sculpture would require time and attention to detail, and we’re balancing ourselves between this piece and two other public artworks (Delta Garden + The City Unseen and Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow). And in part because we simply don’t have the skills to build this thing.

While we try to have a hand directly in the making of all our artworks, we wanted to do the concept of CARBON COPY justice. After interviewing several studios, we settled on Calgary-based fabricators F&D Scene Changes. We’ve been lucky to have their time, expertise, amazing shop space, and talented staff carrying this artwork forward.

After the initial car cuts were completed, metal faces were welded on to the gaps in the body, creating weather-proofed compartments and a smooth surface to work against.

Foam sections were carved to fill these cavities, creating the “glitched” sections of the sculpture.

The carved foam sections were modelled off the 3D scans of the car, and designed to fit snugly into the gaps in the frame. These foam sections will be hard-coated and painted, creating a seamless fiberglass finish on the surface of the vehicle.

But not all the glitches will be hard-coated foam. The hard glitch running through the tire of the vehicle calls for a highly-realistic break in reality. For that, F&D used the real car tire, filling it to create “solid rubber” and hard-plating the face of the cut.

Stay tuned to this blog as the final details of this sculpture shift into focus! In the meantime, shout out to the fine folks at F&D ❤