No Pain, No Gain
*THIS SCULPTURE IS READY TO SHIP IMMEDIATELY*
WITHOUT TRIAL, THERE IS NO GROWTH. THERE IS NO BALANCE.
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CLICK THE VIDEO BELOW TO LISTEN TO ME TALKING ABOUT THIS SCULPTURE!
MEANING OF THE DESIGN
This is my second version I have ever made like this. Whether you are a die-hard gym rat or you simply see this sculpture as a metaphor, the saying is still true: “No Pain, No Gain”. To me, this sculpture has a much deeper and hidden meaning than just a man dedicated to sculpting his body. To me, it represents years of trial and error as an artist, learning and improvement. To its new owner, it may represent the same thing, something else entirely or simply as a symbolic trophy of your achievements in the gym.
The symbol I love the most about this sculpture is without the heavy weights he holds in his hands, he would be out of balance - Similiar to life; Without our trials and struggles, we would not be balanced and would have no growth.
HOW IT WAS MADE
This sculpture was built starting with nothing but bare stainless steel barstock. Using my TIG welder, I slowly added weld on top of weld and placing metal where muscle and flesh should be. Sculpting this figure out of steel was a challenge on its own. Getting it to balance properly while still retaining his look was another hurdle!
I spent many hours cutting, welding and re-cutting his arms away from his body in order to get it to balance correctly. Even the weights he holds were designed by me. They are machined from solid stainless steel and then I built the bar that the weights slide onto. They even spin as they are naturally connected to the bar like a real dumbbell. There is only one small tack-weld holding the end plate and the rest in place.
The tiny ball he effortlessly balances on is a hardened stainless steel bearing - much harder than the rest of his body. This allows his weight to rest on this tiny point without distorting the metal as well as enable it to create the least amount of friction against two hard and polished surfaces.
