Thursday Salute to Originals: Stairway to Brick and Mortar
A dramatic outdoor art installation climbs the wall of an old brick building.
Just around the corner, a massive, unfurling steel ribbon peaks just above the roof of a brick building in Brighton. Take a closer look, and you would find a “staircase to nowhere” with rungs for climbing off earth-bound stone architecture straight into the sky.
The steel structure is one of many bizarre public installations to come from the imagination of Alex Chinneck — a British artist with a unique fascination for turning bland architecture into an exciting spectacle.
This piece, titled “A Spring in Your Step,” features winding galvanized steel that is twisted around a simple stone box.
“[The sculpture] took three years to complete, weighs four tonnes, is 25 meters tall, and follows a non-repeating, expanding, and contracting helical form, making it my most complex sculpture to date,” said Chinneck in an interview with This is Colossal.
This Thursday, we’re saluting the winding, whimsical staircase by Alex Chinneck and the three-year process behind the bizarre public work. You can check out first-hand, behind-the-scenes stories along with other creations by Chinneck on the artist’s Instagram.
Sources: Alex Chinneck, This is Colossal