Dubai: If it rains sand on a patch of desert off Dubai on Monday, fret not. It’s not a sandstorm; just an artist creating the late Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan’s portrait from a hot air balloon.
Artist and Canadian University of Dubai lecturer Sylvain Tremblay will ‘paint’ Shaikh Zayed’s image using sand on a 10-metre by 10-metre canvas in the early morning.
The Canadian artist will sprinkle sand collected from the desert on the canvas from a hot air balloon 15 metres in the air to create a high-contrast image.
Tremblay said he invented the technique, a style he perfected for two months at the Canadian University of Dubai.
“I will first trace Shaikh Zayed’s face using white glue and then hop onto the balloon to drop the sand and then come down again to shake it off. We’re using three tones of sand — a really really dark one for the eyes [and hair], and a medium tone for the face, and a pale sandy colour for the rest,” Tremblay told Gulf News.
“We chose to paint Shaikh Zayed to honour him as the father of the nation and then we’re using sand because it’s an important UAE element.”
Tremblay needs to ride the hot air balloon three times due to the three tones of sand and will finish the artwork in about two hours. He needs about 100 bags of sand per tonne. He said he’ll do it early in the morning to minimise the danger from strong wind.
He has been preparing for the project for three weeks and will attempt a trial run in the desert this week. He has practised numerous times using a ladder and mock-up canvases using the university’s roof.
“We are dealing with the elements of the desert and I will be floating between 10 metres and 20 metres above the ground, so there is plenty of opportunity for things to work against us.”
