Sculpting Wonders

Late Summer 2019 - It’s no secret that spray polyurethane foam is used all over the world, and its application can sometimes be found in many shapes and sizes in some of the most curious of places.

Try this location on for size: One of the biggest electronic festivals in the world in the heart of Romania. That’s right—spray foam will make an appearance at this year’s Untold Festival, the largest annual electronic music festival held in Romania, taking place near Transylvania and Cluj-Napoca from August 1 to August 4 of this year.

However, the foam will not be applied to the stages or any other building erected for the four-day festival (that we know of) but instead will feature as the base material for numerous sculptures adorning the psychedelic landscape of the show’s entire infrastructure. Showcase pieces will include a 20-meter dragon, a throne straight out of Game of Thrones, and an “imperial walker” from Star Wars.  

These sculptures will be made available to the festival by Marc Florin, owner of Modular Housing Transilvania, who engages in this alternative use of spray foam when he is not applying it to walls and ceilings in his numerous home projects in the area. After being in the construction industry for over 10 years building light steel modular homes and using spray foam for insulation, he found that the foam could also be used as a creative outlet for his art sculptures. He explains that sculpting with foam began as a passion that embarked him on a successful, lucrative journey.

“For me, sculpting is a transition from everyday life to a certain space and time in which I can let go and disconnect,” says Florin. “My sculptures have been getting more and more attention over time and are used as a visual experience for different festivals and public events in my country.”

Florin finds closed-cell foam to be ideal when working on compositions of a larger scale such as the ones he crafted for Untold because its density is light, making it easy to cut and refine. Also, because of its superlative adhesion properties, Florin notes that he can easily apply it to structural materials such as steel, wood, and high-density polyester.

As far as the process goes, Florin notes he first comes up with the concept, sketches it, and creates a 3-D model out of clay. Then, he builds the structure of the composition and applies one pass of closed-cell foam. Once the first layer cures, he applies a second layer of foam and works in the details of the sculpture. Finally, he coats the foam with polyurea for waterproof resistance and then paints the sculpture with the desired color.

The sculptures that will be featured at Untold are nearing completion; Florin hopes that “these visuals generate a fantasy world for concert goers to enjoy the experience of the festival to the fullest.” He looks to continue to let his own imagination come to life - with a little help of SPF, of course.