Mr Sandman goes bananas

Friday 12 July 2019

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Jersey's very own Mr Sandman has turned his talents to sculpture, with a really wild creation he hopes will be a cut (out) above the rest.

Andy Coutanche's unique gorilla sculpture set to be released around the island later this month as part of Durrell's 'Go Wild Gorillas' public art trail.

Launched in partnership with Wild in Art, the trail aims to celebrate the charity’s 60th anniversary and raise funds for a new state-of-the-art gorilla house at Jersey Zoo.

With only two weeks to go before the gorillas get in the wild at different spots around the island, Express – who is supporting the initiative as its media partner – is giving you a sneak peek of the designs and presenting some of the artists behind them. Today, it's the Jersey Sandman...

Pictured: Andy with one of his sandy designs.

He might be more used to sandy designs, but Andy also works with stone and glass to create unique sculptures as well as light box sculptures.

Sponsored by Deloitte, Andy's gorilla is officially named 'The Space Between Us'.

However, the artist has affectionately nicknamed him Vincent, "because I cut his ear off!"

However, the gorilla is missing more than just an ear as Andy was inspired by "negative space conceptual sculpture" when creating it.

"My design is quite bold because I cut my Gorilla in half!" he explained. "This form of sculpture is a way of injecting the real world into the creation and allows the piece to continuously change.

"The negative space helps define the boundaries of the positive space and bring a balance to the composition, this in-turn allows the viewer to interact with both."

Video: Andy Coutanche created an art installation to raise awareness of palm oil and its destructive effects on the rainforest.

The gorilla trail is not Andy's first collaboration with Durrell. In 2017, he worked on a unique art installation to show the "intriguing intelligence" of the sumatran orangutans to help raise awareness of their plight.

"I wanted to get involved with the sculpture trail because it's such a worthy cause," he said. "In 2017 I was involved with another Durrell project raising awareness of palm oil and its destructive effects on the rainforest and its wildlife. The Orangutan SOS project gave me the opportunity to get up close to Dagu and the other Orangutans.

"When I heard about the Go Wild Gorillas project I really wanted to be involved if possible, so for me was a no brainer as it seemed the most logical step to help another great cause. As soon as I heard about the project I started thinking about designs."

Andy documented the whole process of Vincent's creation on social media, showing the sculpture from its pristine state through the different cuts up to the painting stage. 

To see the gorilla in his full glory you will however have to wait until 27 July when the trail launches.

You can read more about the other gorilla designs by clicking here and here. And if you want to adopt one, there's still a chance, with one created by the man behind the world's 'pinkest pink'.

GALLERY: A sneak peek at Andy's design...