What A Wonderful World!

This project is very special to me because it's nothing like I've ever done before.

A few months ago I’ve got contacted by a company to design the stairway of their new building in Luxemburg.

Usually I create my artwork on canvas by painting multiple layers of characters, bubbles and slogans that are inspired by the moment.

A new idea had to be created so I teamed up with my carpenter friend Constantin Jacques and together we came up with something really exciting. He and his team helped me recreate the same idea I use in my canvasses but by using wood panels. Like a multilayer jigsaw puzzle that's entirely made out of wood.

The biggest challenge was to create a digital version that would allow us to scale it up to the size it is now. Each motive was then cut out individually and painted by hand.

It was a massive project. We've used 2 tons of wood to make this three-dimensional art piece. There are six layers of wood stacked on top of each other and to make it really pop we added LEDs behind the panels. It is 7 meters wide by 13 meters high.

For me its a one of a kind piece of art and something I would love to do more often. The teamwork with Constantin Jacques and his carpenters was so much fun. Hours of cutting, painting, spraying and fixing.

The whole piece is based on the customer’s values and things that are important to them like building a better tomorrow and having a positive impact on the world. I referenced song lyrics or punch lines that capture the essence of this message . If you read “What a wonderful world” it will immediately remind you of Louis Armstrong, his voice, the melody and even the words he says. These few words that everyone knows are very powerful and trigger lots of emotions.

As the whole installation covers 3 floors it was difficult to capture the whole picture. I hope the video can still convey what a wonderful project this is.

Enjoy!

Sumo