this massive middle finger sculpture made of flowers bids farewell to winter

a floral sculpture that flips winter off 

living sculpture

all images by alessandra kila and william green

welcoming the first day of spring

‘after another year of toughing out the pandemic and a grinding winter comes to an end, there’s never been a more important time to celebrate the arrival of brighter days ahead,’ shares uncommon creative studio. ‘at a time when the world seems to be in a state of flux and things can feel a bit shit — we’re ready to relish in springtime.’ the team adds.

the first day of spring is a sign of rebirth and a time of tradition, a perfect balance between day and night, and the ray of hope that many could really use right now. to present the first day of spring, the london-based studio has used seasonal flowers and formed a middle finger sculpture that stands 5 ft (1.5 m) tall. bidding farewell to the cold season, the piece welcomes the first bloom of spring with its bright pink, purple and green colors. the handcrafted sculpture will be exhibited at jealous gallery, shoreditch from monday 21st march until friday 25th march 2022. the sculpture is entirely made from biodegradable materials and will start to decompose during its time in the gallery. 

bright colors and coarse textures 

this sculpture represents their first solo exhibit in the art world — the first in a series of many uncommissioned works. uncommon teamed up with urban flower co to bring the idea of ‘dear winter’ to life. each flower was selected by urban flower co with purpose, curating the sculpture by hand to best visualise an explosion of spring. the piece uses distinct pink, purple and green colors blended with bold, soft and coarse textures to define the middle finger shape.

the sculpture includes over 1000 individual flowers, from a range of different varieties such as: renoir ranunculus, hot pink ranunculus, violetta ranunculus, sherry ranunculus, magenta anemone, purpetta red chrsanth, cerise dyed craspedia, flamingo lichen moss, hypnosis carnation, vortex carnation, pink asparagus fern, salmon gypsophila, jupiter purple chamelaucium and icelandic poppies.

project info:

name: dear winter

artist: uncommon creative studio
in collaboration with: urban flower co
sculpture photographer: alessandra kila 
exhibition photographer: william green
set construction: pleat artists and wyliewood
location: jealous gallery, shoreditch, london

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: myrto katsikopoulou | designboom