Liquid Glass – Sculptures by Ben Young

Ben Young is a young, self-taught artist currently based in Sydney. He is the artist behind these realistic looking concrete and glass sculptures. Ben was born in New Zealand and raised in Maihi Beach. His proximity to the ocean while growing up has profoundly affected his inclinations as an artist. His day job is building boats, his hobby is surfing, and his passion is creating these awesome glass sculptures  entirely by hand. Each piece is made up of concrete and layers upon layers of painstakingly hand-carved glass. According to him, the planning phase takes just as much, if not more, work than the crafting.

First, he has to work out how to turn his ideas into something tangible by sketching them out. He makes a whole ton of sketches before even thinking of making the first cut. Ben has to take into consideration the play of light on the layers of glass to achieve the almost surreal fell of his work. He said: “I work with 2D shapes and have to figure out how to translate that into a 3D finished product. Sometimes my start point changes dramatically as shapes can be limited – I can’t create any internal right angles – so I have to find a way to layer the glass to create certain shapes.”

Ben uses only the best materials for his work. and since glass doesn’t cut the same way twice, each of his pieces is truly one-of-a-kind. He added: “I love watching the two dimensional shapes evolve into three-dimensional creations and the different way the light plays inside the glass. I love the liquid qualities the glass brings with it. It enables me to play with lighting and watch the glass react.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Check out his website.