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BBC<\/p>\nBBC<\/p>\n
Sam Shendi has showcased his sculptures in the UK and around the world<\/p>\n
A sculptor and graffiti fan showcasing his latest work in Bradford has said he would be “happy” for street artists to make their mark on it – as long as it “adds to the artwork”.<\/p>\n
Sam Shendi, an Egyptian-born sculptor now living in North Yorkshire, has unveiled Balancing Acts, a 13ft (4m) sculpture in the grounds of the MAPA community centre just off Manchester Road.<\/p>\n
Made from stainless steel, which Shendi has then painted, it was commissioned for the City of Culture celebrations.<\/p>\n
The 50-year-old said: “I respect the younger generation with the graffiti in particular; I’m a fan of the graffiti artwork.”<\/p>\n
Shendi said he had no problem with people adding to his creation as long as it was done in a positive way and was not offensive.<\/p>\n
He said: “The paint that I use is the same type that you’d use to spray cars, so it will last for a long period of time.<\/p>\n
“At the end of the day if any other creative person is happy to come and paint on the top of it, or draw in a good way, I’m happy with this as well.”<\/p>\n
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Shendi says the colours are inspired by countries’ flags<\/p>\n
The work was inspired by children’s building blocks and took Shendi, who lives in the village of Cowling, five months to create.<\/p>\n
He collaborated with local firm Bradford Laser Cutting, which specialises in cutting stainless steel and welding.<\/p>\n
Shendi spray-painted each block using colours from different countries’ flags to represent the communities who live in the area.<\/p>\n
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All five sections of the sculpture can be rotated on a metal column fixed into the ground<\/p>\n
Shendi, who became a member of the Royal British Society of Sculptors in 2014, also made each block capable of being rotated.<\/p>\n
He said: “I love my work to be touched by children.<\/p>\n
“It’s colourful so it appeals to all kind of ages from any background, any class. <\/p>\n
“The sculpture was inspired by children’s building blocks. You’re trying to teach kids about the balance and the harmony between surfaces.<\/p>\n
“This is what community is really.<\/p>\n
“How different backgrounds, different faiths, different beliefs and different political views are all combined together.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BBC Sam Shendi has showcased his sculptures in the UK and around the world A sculptor and graffiti…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66054,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[76,354,355,49,48,356,75],"class_list":["post-66053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}