In the early 1990's I was involved in the design and building of many commercially oriented public sculptures and 3D signs.
This project, a ferro cement, generic elephant, was built for the Chang Tong Thai Restaurant, now known as the Red Elephant.
UPDATE.
After 35 years, and closure of the Red Elephant Thai Restaurant, The Red Elephant was bought by Peter Harris, who has moved him to his home in Langs Beach.
Peter found me on this blog. He contacted me asking numerous questions about the construction and placement of the elephant. Despite so many years elapsing, I was able to recall every detail of the project. I was instrumental in making it possible for Peter and his team to uplift and transport Abdul [named in honour of its previous owner] to his new location on Peter's property at Langs Beach in Northland. To find out more scroll down to the NZ Herald article written by Northland Journalist, Peter de Graaf. July 1st 2024.
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| The Golden Elephant of Khyber Pass, Auckland, New Zealand with the company ute in the foreground. Photo taken by me in 1991. |
Here are a few surviving images of the building process.
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| The armature beginning to reveal the shape of the elephant in 3 D. |
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| Another perspective of the steel armature in the workshop. |
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| Armature with most of its wire netting applied, those are my boys, Robert and Arien. |
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| A trunk down perspective of the plastering process. |
I developed a very successful plaster mixture by blending Portland cement with equal parts of sand and macerated news paper which was power mixed with a paddle and a drill. It clung to the two layers of mesh extremely well.
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| What the paster application looked like from inside. |
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| A young Rachel Hunter looks on. |
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| My son Arien as Mahout |
The detail was added as a second plaster layer using a variety of metal shapes bent out of steel sheet.
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| Swinging the sculpture from the low loader into position outside the restaurant in Khyber Pass, Auckland NZ. It weighed 1.5 tonnes. |
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| My daughter Rebekka loved the excitement of Dad's job. |
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| In position, my children from left to right, Robert, Rebekka, Arien in his favourite position. |
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| This is my son Robert with the red elephant in 2012 |
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| Auckland wildlife |
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Abdul the red elephant being uplifted by his new owner,
Peter Harris. |
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Loaded on to a car transport trailer, Abdul made his way north to
Langs Beach. |
