The Eye

A Dutch Artist Made a Gigantic Bear From Conifer Tree Branches

Studio Florentijn Hofman

Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman is known for making cartoonish, larger-than-life animal sculptures of rubber ducks, aardvarks, bunnies, and other creatures that he has displayed in public spaces around the world. The latest work of the man who sent an immense floating hippo down London’s River Thames is a giant bear made of conifer tree branches, set on the grounds of a former aviation school in the Netherlands.

Studio Florentijn Hofman

Made with help from students at Terra College, the nearly 43-foot-tall “Conibear” was made by applying living conifer branches supplied by local residents and a nearby nursery to a metal and bent-wire frame and securing them in place with cable ties, a representative from Studio Florentijn Hofman said in an email.

Studio Florentijn Hofman

Job Saltzherr

Job Saltzherr

The sculpture was erected as part of a local art festival on July 2 and will loom over the landscape like a giant bear-shaped Christmas tree until Sept. 18.

Given that it’s made of living materials, how is it holding up? The sculpture “is already transforming into a brown Conibear,” Studio Florentijn Hofman said.

Job Saltzherr

Florentijn Hofman.

Job Saltzherr