{"id":911445,"date":"2026-09-30T21:14:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T21:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/911445\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T21:14:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T21:14:13","slug":"crystal-animal-sculptures-freeze-the-open-mouthed-gesture-of-a-roar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/911445\/","title":{"rendered":"crystal animal sculptures freeze the open-mouthed gesture of a roar"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>the Roar recurs across Ferdi B Dick\u2019s animal sculptures<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>South African-born <a href=\"https:\/\/www.designboom.com\/tag\/sculpture\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">sculptor<\/a> Ferdi B Dick builds many of his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.designboom.com\/tag\/animals-in-art\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">animal<\/a> sculptures around a recurring gesture: an open mouth with an extended tongue, capturing the form of a roar. Rather than representing aggression, Dick connects the gesture to release and exhalation, drawing a parallel with Simhasana, the lion\u2019s breath in yoga practice.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The motif appears throughout his practice at different scales, from mirror-polished stainless-steel public sculptures to gallery works and cast crystal. In Embrace the Amazing Whale, the gesture takes the form of an 8-meter-tall public sculpture on the waterfront of Zhanjiang, China, installed in December 2023. Lion Roar brought the same language to gallery-scale works at Everard Read in Johannesburg in 2023.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Crystal Roar translates the gesture into a smaller and more fragile material form. The series includes Dragon Roar, Lion Roar, Bunnie Roar, and Ellie Roar. Each sculpture begins as a digital model developed using the same tools employed for Dick\u2019s large-scale public works before being cast in crystal through the lost-wax process.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"crystal animal sculptures freeze the open-mouthed gesture of a roar - 1\" bad-src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/crystal-roar-ferdi-b-dick-casts-the-roar-in-crystal-5-6ab20b62c2d3e.jpg\" width=\"816\" height=\"614\"\/>lion, elephant and rabbit sculptures from\u00a0the Crystal Roar series in multiple cast crystal colorways | all images \u00a9Ferdi B Dick<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Crystal, color, and light define each sculptural form<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Metal oxides are introduced during casting to produce different colors, with each requiring a specific firing temperature. Once cast, the sculptures are cut, ground, sandblasted, and polished by hand. The crystal alters the way each form interacts with light: violet carries and catches light differently from amber, while darker crystal absorbs it. The material gives the sculptures a combination of weight and fragility.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Crystal Roar works form part of a broader sculptural language that moves between monumental public works, gallery pieces, and smaller collector sculptures. While the scale changes, the recurring gesture remains.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ferdibdick.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Artist<\/a> Ferdi B Dick studied 3D animation and ran an animation studio in Cape Town for 20 years before turning to sculpture full-time. He is now based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, with public sculptures installed in Taiyuan, Zhanjiang, and Guangzhou, China.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"crystal animal sculptures freeze the open-mouthed gesture of a roar - 2\" bad-src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/crystal-roar-ferdi-b-dick-casts-the-roar-in-crystal-6-6ab20b62c2d7e.jpg\" width=\"816\" height=\"614\"\/>Bunnie Roar Crystal in blue, showing the frosted translucent surface of the work<img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"crystal animal sculptures freeze the open-mouthed gesture of a roar - 3\" bad-src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/crystal-roar-ferdi-b-dick-casts-the-roar-in-crystal-7-6ab20b62c2db7.jpg\" width=\"816\" height=\"614\"\/>Ellie Roar Crystal shown in multiple cast crystal colorways<img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"crystal animal sculptures freeze the open-mouthed gesture of a roar - 4\" bad-src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/crystal-roar-ferdi-b-dick-casts-the-roar-in-crystal-8-6ab20b62c2df9.jpg\" width=\"816\" height=\"614\"\/>Bunnie Roar Crystal shown at two scales, from a hand-held sculpture to a larger version<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"the Roar recurs across Ferdi B Dick\u2019s animal sculptures \u00a0 South African-born sculptor Ferdi B Dick builds many&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":911446,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[141142,449,458,459,64,63,460,134,3811],"class_list":["post-911445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-animals-in-art","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-sculpture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=911445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/911446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=911445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=911445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=911445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}