Say hello to Andoni Bastarrika – a multi-media artist hailing from Spain’s Basque Country. Andoni Bastarrika has been enjoying a lot of attention because of his ultra-realistic animal sculptures. What makes his ultra-realistic animal sculptures so special? It is the fact that he makes them using almost exclusively nothing but sand.
Andoni Bastarrika has been providing entertainment to the beach-goers in his native Basque Country region for about ten years now but only recently was able to tap into the international fame following a picture of his sand sculptures going viral on Reddit. The said picture features a life-size sitting bull and people just couldn’t stop talking about how realistic and life-like the sculpture appeared. It featured subtle muscle definition and hair-like sand detailing on its forehead. Soon enough, various pictures of Andoni Bastarrika’s sand animals started floating around on different social media networks.
Andoni says that he started experimenting with sand sculptures back in 2010. It was his way of bringing joy to the children who went to the beach. The feedback that he received was so enormously positive that he began focusing on this amazing new art form and as he progressed, he began developing his own techniques. In a short span of time, he was able to create a name for himself as a sand sculptor and was able to supplement his summer income as well.
Bastarrika relies on his hands for shaping sand sculptures. However, when it comes to imparting the fine details; he makes use of simple tools such as a brush, small sticks, and toothpicks. The artist, for the sake of adding another layer of realism, sometimes also makes use of accessories such as horns and hooves. Andoni Bastarrika also conducts workshops where he teaches those with a passion for learning, the secrets of sand sculpting. Do let us know what you think of his ultra-realistic sand sculptures.
