Willard Wigan entered the world of watchmaking. How great this sounds for all of us who admire the work of this incredible artist. Together with Greubel Forsey founders, Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey, this renowned micro-sculptor is working on a unique timepiece, still unimaginable in the field of art and watchmaking. Still in progress, their groundbreaking creation, called Art Piece 1, was presented at the Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair, on September 6, 2012.
Art Piece 1 - Greubel Forsey and Wigan
This work in progress was also displayed in Greubel Forsey’s Time Art GalleryGF at Bund18 inShanghai, from September 7 to September 9. It is expected that the Art Piece 1 in its final form will be revealed at the 2013 Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH).
Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey discovered Willard Wigan’s remarkable nano-sculptures five years ago, which gave them an idea for a new creation that would be distinctive in terms of innovation, architecture and technical complexity. Off course, they needed a help of the famous artist who gladly accepted to work with innovative watchmakers on this long-term project.
Greubel Forsey Time Art Gallery
Thus, once finished, Art Piece 1 should bring together different creative languages of these three experts and the power of this thrilling unity cannot even be imagined. Greubel and Forsey are working on a rotating hemispherical structure that will feature several Wigan’s nano-sculptures. Thanks to specially created optics which will be integrated in the Art Piece 1, these figures, measuring only a few micro millimeters (less than 1/13th of the size of a grain of rice), will be visible.
Art Piece 1 - Greubel Forsey and Wigan - Sketch
Visible only through a high powered microscope, the creation of Willard Wigan is usually placed in the eye of a needle, on the head of a pin or on a grain of sugar. Working with unusual tools, such as hairs off dead fly used as a paintbrush, as well as spider web, legs of flies, gold and Kevlar, Wigan plays with real sizes of insects or miniature objects and micro sizes of iconic images from pop culture, which requires extreme concentration and rigorous physical discipline. For its remarkable work and his services to art,Wigan was honored by Queen Elizabeth II with an MBE.
