Udder Madness – Sky Whale by Patricia Piccinini

The humongous “Sky Whale” is actually a hot air balloon commissioned by Canberra for their centenary. Artist Patricia Piccinini was tasked to conceptualize the whole thing. She said: “’The skywhale may appear fantastic but think about the blue whale – an air breathing mammal that lives in the ocean – and it doesn’t seem so far-fetched”. Creating the gigantic Sky Whale started with some three-dimensional drawings. A prototype was then created and sent to Cameron Balloons in Bristol for the finer details like coloring and patinization. It took approximately 3.3 million stitches and around 3,535 meters of fabric to create the imaginary creature. Patricia also added: “I think that when we look up at the skywhale and wonder what it is ‘for’, it might remind us that nature is not necessarily ‘for us’. It just ‘is’ and we’re just lucky enough to be around to see it.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have a look.