A STUNNING sculpture of Mars will from Parr Hall for Warrington Arts Festival next week, giving Warrington residents a chance to see the red planet up close.
Luke Jerram is an internationally renowned artist who is perhaps best known for his incredible sculpture of Earth, named Gaia.
In 2022, he brought the detailed sculpture to Warrington, which proved to be a huge hit.
Now, his latest sculpture will be the centrepiece of this year’s Warrington Arts Festival.
Luke’s sculpture of Mars is set to hang from the ceiling of Parr Hall from July 18 until the festival concludes on July 25.
It will allow people to see the planet up close and examine every part of it, thanks to impressive data from Nasa.
“Each sculpture is made out of Nasa imagery, and they take about six months to make,” said Luke.
“We have to find the data to create this imagery and then we do test prints. Then we finally build the artwork that we think is going to be right an play around with internal lighting.
“The sculpture is seven meters in diameter and it’s made out of a massive data file from the Mars reconnaissance orbiter mission.”
The detailed data and months of hard work culminates in a breathtaking experience, showcasing elements of our solar system in a new way.
“There’s a beautiful illusion of texture on these artworks,” said Luke.
“You’re looking at the surface, and it looks like the sculpture has all these mountains and craters and valleys, but it’s actually flat.
“There’s a nice optical illusion that’s created and it’s really beautiful.
“We spent 200,000 years looking at the surface of the moon and it’s always been a destination for mankind.
"So, it’s quite nice to bring that into a gallery or exhibition space and give people an opportunity to inspect either the moon or Mars up close.”
Luke believes that his work gives the public an opportunity to understand and visualise the universe, as well as science more broadly.
“I think it’s really important to be able to help visualise science,” he said.
“I work as an artist with scientists to help visualise their research. They take things that are invisible and we make them visible.
“With Mars, which is obviously a very long way away, we bring it closer to make it visible and I suppose it reveals the beauty and the wonder of the universe.”
During Warrington Arts Festival, performances will take place under the stunning sculpture from HENGE and Dave Haslam.
Luke is glad to see that his artwork will create a spectacular backdrop for other artists to be creative.
“I supposed I always hoped they would,” he said.
“It’s nice to leave a space for other people to be creative. There’s a great programme of events taking place and that’s really nice.
“I’m really pleased with the way the artwork has turned out, and for the work that the team in Warrington has put in.”
When artists aren’t performing underneath it, the sculpture will be displayed with a soundtrack created specifically with sounds that were recorded from the planet by Nasa.
You can see the impressive Mars sculpture at Parr Hall throughout the festival for free, but booking will be required at key times.
Tickets can be found via https://wcaf.culturewarrington.org/whats-on/mars/
