Ukrainian Artist Unveils 3-Meter-Tall 3D Printed “Walking Flower” Sculpture

From the earliest cave drawings to the “Mona Lisa” portrait that hangs in the Louvre, art is an interesting, fluid concept. A piece of artwork that moves you to tears could have virtually no effect on someone standing right next to you and looking at the same piece of art. Art comes in all forms and materials – there are the beautiful baskets and seaforms of renowned American glass sculptor Dale Chihuly, Georgia O’Keefe’s modernist paintings, and giant bronze sculpture “The Thinker” by Auguste Rodin. Now, we are seeing many works of 3D printed art, and while there is some debate over the idea of 3D printers creating artwork, there’s no question that many pieces of 3D printed artwork are truly a sight to behold. Earlier this month, Ukrainian media artist Stepan Ryabchenko presented his three-meter-tall “Walking Flower,” the largest 3D sculpture in the history of Ukrainian modern art.

Ryabchenko, a member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine, graduated from the Odessa State Academy of Civil Engineering and Architecture in 2011, a year after he won the First All-Ukrainian Triennial of abstract art, “ART-ACT.” In addition to creating structural works of art, he is also a painter. He says he was involved in creating architectural objects, and did not originally intend on becoming a painter. He uses modern computer technology in his work, and was nominated for the Pinchuk Art Centre prize in 2011. He is also a laureate of the international contemporary sculpture competition Kyiv Sculpture Project whose works have also been displayed in London and New York.

The gigantic yellow “Walking Flower” is only a fragment of Ryabchenko’s virtual work, “Doom’s Day,” which is now on display at the Ukraine Art Gallery. It belongs to his Utopian collection, “Virtual Mythology,” where he investigates the edge between the material world and the virtual one. He uses his own characters and myths to create an alternate reality.

His artwork can be printed in 2D format as a painting, or in 3D format as a sculpture, like “Walking Flower” is. The collection is open to view daily, from 10 am to 8 pm during the week, and 11 am to 7 pm on the weekends. The acclaimed artist says that utilizing 3D printing in his creations lets his “virtual Utopia attain reality.”

The description of the “Virtual Mythology” collection, from the collection’s translated Facebook page, reads:

“Virtual Mythology. Myth-narrative fiction. But without this there is no fiction world. Virtual reality with its integration into financial reality – an illustration of how an idea becomes a mental construction of visual shapes, volumes and end – embodied in matter. The original model creation. Virtual reality Stepan Ryabchenko in his interpretation of the claim to completeness welcome, so endowed with his own myth – digital mock soul reality. The narrative images complemented narrative history.”

Ryabchenko partnered with Ukrainian company Diacom Group for the project; he is friends with the owner of the company, so they were more than happy to help. Diacom Group is a leading integrator in automation and control systems, and their Diacom Lab design office works on developing custom hardware. Some of their past projects include building automation, automatic power redistribution system, electrical installation work, and smart houses. Ten engineers, who worked on the project for two months, monitored the 3D printing process for the “Walking Flower” sculpture. Discuss in the Walking Flower forum at 3DPB.com.