12 captivating art projects which have delighted us this year

’Indescribable beauty’ is perhaps the only way to describe some of the creative output from various corners of the globe which we’ve seen this year. Seeing some of the art projects of 2015 has to stand as one of the most memorable and impressive events of one’s life.

We picked 12 of the absolute best of them just in case you haven’t had the chance to see them with your own eyes.

An ocean of plastic balls

The National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., is well-known for installing new fascinating and original art installations every year. This year, it set up an ’ocean’ made up of a million plastic balls, complete with a ’shoreline’ allowing visitors to dive in. The ocean had mirrors installed all around it to create the impression of a much larger space.

Wire sculptures

Kendra Heist is one of the best artists in Britain who works with one of the most complicated materials for sculpture available: wire meshing. The curator of the Tower of London requested that she construct 13 sculptures which would best describe the history of the Royal menagerie. Heist approached this task with due care, trying to give each of the animal sculptures as much underlying significance and meaning as possible.

The floating flower garden

An interactive, ’floating’ flower garden was created at one of the largest art festivals in Tokyo. It involved the use of more than 2,300 still-living flowers which continued to grow and bloom during their use as part of the art installation. The installation was designed in such a way that the flowers were lifted into the air as a visitor approached them.

Wood sculptures

It’s difficult to imagine just how exactly British sculptor James Doran Webb goes about creating his incredible works. After many hours of painstaking work, he somehow manages to turn gnarled tree roots and branches into real wonders which are simply outstanding in their realism and attention to detail.

Marigolds out of a tube

Walking through a park in the city of Boulogne-sur-Mer in France, photographer Steve Hugh came across this amusing installation depicting flowers that had supposedly ’spilled’ out of a huge tube of paint.

Memorial to merchant seamen who died in the Second World War

This memorial first appeared in in Cardiff in 1994. Viewed from one side, the sculpture looks like the cut-open body of a merchant ship; from the other it depicts a human face.

Luminous sculptures

Photographer and artist Darren Pearson, who works under the pseudonym Darius Twin, creates these highly original and memorable sculptures using neon light and his camera.

A hedge shaped like a huge dragon

Near a farm in Norfolk, UK, you can see a huge green dragon with a length of 45.7 metres. John Brooker, the creator of this wonderful sculpture, pays close attention to its appearance and regularly clips of any outgrowths of branches or leaves.

The ’Love’ Sculpture

Ukrainian sculptor Aleksandr Milov presented his new project at the Burning Man festival. The sculpture depicts a scene of conflict between a man and a woman, within whom one can see two small children.

50,000 keys collected from around the world

This installation, with the title of ’Key in Hand’, was created by Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota specially for the Venice Biennale. It aims to remind us of the connection between all things on this Earth, about the unpredictable cross-connections which occur in the fates of individuals, and about the importance of the memories we all hold dear in our hearts.

The giant armoured panda statue

This unusual creation was installed in Shenyang, China and was created by Bi Heng. It depicts a giant panda in armour which is 9 metres tall and 7 metres wide. With the Yin-Yang symbol clearly visible on its chest, Bi Heng aimed to remind people that the whole world is interconnected, as well as the idea that we must not sacrifice nature for the sake of technological progress.

Flower parade in Holland

Nineteen teams of volunteers took part in this year’s flower parade in Holland, which was dedicated to the life and legacy of Vincent van Gogh.
As you can see, the results were simply wonderful!