Art fabrication is a process or service relating to the production of large or technically difficult artworks.

When a lone artist or designer is incapable or chooses not to realize the creation of his or her own design or conception, he or she may enlist the assistance of an art fabrication studio. Typically, an art fabrication studio has access to the resources, specialized machinery, and labor necessary to execute particularly complex projects.

"Art fabrication" should not be confused with the term "fabricated sculpture" which refers to a sculpture (usually metal) whose component parts are shaped (usually through bending), and then assembled by way of fasteners or welds (as opposed to a sculpture created through casting

Casting

In metalworking, casting involves pouring liquid metal into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowing it to cool and solidify. The solidified part is also known as a casting, which is ejected or broken out of the mold to complete the process...

).

Mike Smith is a notable art fabricator who has worked on behalf of Damien Hirst

Damien Hirst

Damien Steven Hirst is an English artist, entrepreneur and art collector. He is the most prominent member of the group known as the Young British Artists , who dominated the art scene in Britain during the 1990s. He is internationally renowned, and is reportedly Britain's richest living artist,...

, Rachel Whiteread

Rachel Whiteread

Rachel Whiteread, CBE is an English artist, best known for her sculptures, which typically take the form of casts. She won the annual Turner Prize in 1993—the first woman to win the prize....

, Jake and Dinos Chapman

Jake and Dinos Chapman

Iakovos "Jake" Chapman and Konstantinos "Dinos" Chapman are English visual artists, often known as the Chapman Brothers, who work together as a collaborative sibling duo...

, Gavin Turk

Gavin Turk

Gavin Turk is a British artist and one of the Young British Artists . He often uses his own image in life-size sculptures of famous people.-Life and work:...

 and Michael Landy

Michael Landy

Michael Landy RA is one of the Young British Artists . He is best known for the performance piece installation Break Down , in which he destroyed all his possessions, and for the Art Bin project at the South London Gallery. On 29 May 2008 Landy was elected a member of the Royal Academy of Arts in...

.

Ted Lawson is another notable art fabricator (founder of Prototype New York) who has worked on behalf of Jeff Koons

Jeff Koons

Jeffrey "Jeff" Koons is an American artist known for his reproductions of banal objects—such as balloon animals produced in stainless steel with mirror finish surfaces....

, Yoko Ono

Yoko Ono

is a Japanese artist, musician, author and peace activist, known for her work in avant-garde art, music and filmmaking as well as her marriage to John Lennon...

, Mariko Mori

Mariko Mori

Mariko Mori is a Japanese video and photographic artist. While studying at Bunka Fashion College, she worked as a fashion model in the late 1980s. This strongly influenced her early works, such as Play with Me, in which she takes control of her role in the image, becoming an exotic, alien...

, Vanessa Beecroft

Vanessa Beecroft

Vanessa Beecroft is an Italian contemporary artist living in Los Angeles.-Artistic practice:Beecroft's work is a fusion of conceptual issues and aesthetic concerns, focusing on large-scale performance art, usually involving live female models...

, Ellen Gallager, Keith Tyson

Keith Tyson

Keith Tyson is a British artist. In 2002, he was the winner of the Turner Prize. His work is concerned with an interest in generative systems, and an embrace of the complexity and interconnectedness of existence...

 and Ghada Amer

Ghada Amer

Ghada Amer is a contemporary artist living and working in New York City. She emigrated from her birth country at age 11 and was educated in Paris and Nice...

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Another art fabricator is Smith of Derby, who have worked with Marianne Forrest and Wolfgang & Heron.

External links

• Barnacle Bros Sculpture & Custom Fabrication - Art fabrication studio that has worked with many artists including Allora & Calzadilla, Andrea Zittel, Mike Kelley, Shepard Fairey etc... specializing in fabrication & installation of fine art in galleries and large-scale public sculpture.
• Demiurge LLC - Art fabrication studio specializing in fabrication/installation of public art and large-scale sculpture.
• Prototype New York LLC - This website contains production photos from the fabrication of major artworks, including the works of Jeff Koons, Mariko Mori, Kieth Tyson and Yoko Ono, etc...
• Some day my plinth will come - The Guardian
  The Guardian
  The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
  
  , 27 May 2001. This article about the production of a sculpture by Rachel Whiteread
  Rachel Whiteread
  Rachel Whiteread, CBE is an English artist, best known for her sculptures, which typically take the form of casts. She won the annual Turner Prize in 1993—the first woman to win the prize....
  
  includes rare - for the mainstream press - details of the involvement of an art fabricator in the production of work.
• MDM Props Ltd Fabrication studio that has worked with many artists including Anish Kapoor, Anselm Kiefer and Jake and Dinos Chapman.
• Art Exploration and Development Ltd
• Mike Smith Studio
• Smith of Derby
• Wolfgang & Heron