Stunning Life-Like Animal Sculptures Made with Layers of Galvanized Wire

Artist Kendra Haste uses the ubiquitous galvanized wire and transforms it into life-like sculptures of wild animals. By layering, fraying, and sometimes painting it, she’s able to mimic the anatomical appearance of creatures both large and small.
Haste masterfully crafts the wire so that even subtle muscle definition is visible. And while she highlights solid forms, Haste also manipulates the material to look as fluffy as a lion’s mane. It’s these many characteristics that make wire the perfect medium for her. “No other material I have ever used has been able to suggest the sense of movement and life, of contour and volume, the contrasts of weight and lightness, of solidity and transparency - values that I find in my natural subjects,” she explains in an artist statement.
Animals have been a fascination of Haste’s throughout her entire life. Her sculptures are depictions of individual creatures that she’s encountered, often after studying them in their natural habitat. It’s their spirit and energy that inspires her work. “I try to create a sense of the living, breathing subject in a static 3D form, attempting to convey the emotional essence without indulging in the sentimental or anthropomorphic.”
If you find yourself at the Tower of London, you’ll see Haste’s sculptures. The Historic Royal Palaces commissioned her in 2010 to fabricate 13 of them, and they’ll remain on view until 2021.