We created this sculpture of a fictional superhero character; Bumblebee from the movie- Transformers, for Ashok Leyland to commemorate their 70th year at a Global Dealer Conference in Chennai. As per brief of our client, they wanted a sculpture that showed the might and strength of their trucks which is what led us to recreate a Bumblebee from waste truck parts. The process of this 13 feet tall sculpture started with site visits to the client’s warehouses and factory where they exposed us to the plethora of their waste and redundant truck parts. A radiator cut in two became the chest, an altered half-cut engine became the hip joint, tyres as the shoulder joints, an air filter was the perfect size of the spine, crank shaft welded into a piston was the ankle and calf, shock absorbers fit perfectly as feet, hydraulic shafts and exhaust pipes were running across the entire body to give it form and structure, crusher plates and wheel covers were used to cover the body, etc. We started the sculpture with a simple wire frame body and assembled all the metal parts in it like a jigsaw puzzle. Working with our team of skilled metal artists who were nothing short of being engineers, this 3 month long journey from the start till the end was of continual learning, experimenting, exploring the wonders and challenges of using heavy metal truck parts. The “Partsformer” received a thundering response at the Global Dealer Conference and was soon shifted to the Ashok Leyland head office in Chennai.
