World-renowned artist and Guinness World Records holder Larry Moss and his team of 11 international artists are showcasing for the first time in the Middle East, five ‘Airigami’ sculptures at the Doha Festival City (DHFC).
The team will use 40,000 balloons to make the art installations, which will be displayed at different sections of the newly-opened mall until May 20. Each of the five displays is made up of around seven or 8,000 balloons.
“It’s so great to be here working on five distinct installations throughout the mall – a giant dinosaur, an Angry Bird theme, and a giant pair of high heel shoes, among others,” Moss told Gulf Times yesterday.
“The shoes are probably the most detailed piece that we have in the set, and they are great and when you get an opportunity to build something 15ft tall, it’s a lot of fun to work in a medium that allows you to just be creative and work large so a lot of people can enjoy it,” he explained.
Renowned for building large installations, Moss’ projects are something that other balloon artists around the world get excited about.
The five new installations at DHFC have started to attract a large number of mallgoers, taking pictures and selfies with family members and friends.
About the medium he uses, the artist said a balloon is “a simple, fun and silly toy people grew up with,” which is approachable and accessible to anybody.
“To me balloons are really special,” Moss stressed. “You can talk to people about art and a lot of them are afraid to express their feelings about it because they think that only artists and those trained in art are the ones that can really understand what they are looking at.”
“When I ask people to talk about balloon art, there is less hesitations to jump in and be part of it and I like that, and I think art should be shared,” he pointed out. When you can share and work in a medium that different people are comfortable with it makes a whole lot easier to share it.”
About Doha as a potential hub for the arts, the artist described what he saw at the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) as a great appreciation for art – a museum laid out beautifully and not about just showing pieces.
“The whole presentation was amazing, and if that is really the attitude towards art here, absolutely I see this being a hub for the arts,” Moss said. “Art should be experienced, enjoyed and shared, and I have seen very few museums that shared as well as that.”
The artist also noted that the most notable part of their trip to various places in Qatar was the team’s visit to the MIA.
If given the chance, he hopes to showcase Airigami in a museum in Qatar. “I would certainly jump at that opportunity.”
The artist set a Guinness World Record for using more than 40,000 balloons in a single 25ft tall sculpture in Belgium in 2000. He also set another record for the largest (7m tall) Lego mini figure made of balloons.
“It was fun but my focus was more on the art than the record because I think it is kind of silly to think of art as something that you can set a record in, how can you be the biggest, best, or tallest, in art that doesn’t make sense unless you are counting smiles, I would love to create more smiles in anybody else,” he said.
Large balloon installations by world-renowned artist Larry Moss and his team of international artists are being showcased at DHFC until May 20. PICTURE: Joey Aguilar
