An acclaimed American sculptor has today set tongues wagging with his latest work - a spiralling Olympic cauldron that captivated millions around the world watching today's opening ceremony. For Anthony Howe, it was his biggest audience yet.
Hypnotising yet elegant, Mr Howe has been working on the masterpiece for a year.
Lucea is 12 metres in diameter - a giant cauldron symbolising the pulsing energy of the sun.
Designed initially in Mr Howe's humble home studio north of Seattle, it uses wind power, staying true to the environmental theme of these Games.
"I look for awkwardness, for ugliness - things that bang against each other that's not physically possible," he says. "Elegance is what I'm after."
Mr Howe's stainless steel and fibreglass designs come to life with the wind. Some draw from sci-fi; others are a haunting take on microbiology.
"I was a superintendent in a warehouse in Manhattan. I was bored with everything being static in my visual worlds. I wanted to see stuff float.
"Computers are absolutely necessary in my work because there are so many parts. Anything will work in a 50-knot wind - put a piece of metal out and it'll blow away. That's kinetic, but making it turn slower, that's art."
Mr Howe's large-scale kinetic works are found in public spaces around the world. He says he aims to bring human feeling to each and every one.
"Usually at the conclusion of making something you will get another idea of what to make next. Sometimes it's not always magic."
Magic he did manage in Rio, and it will live on in part. A smaller version of Lucea will now adorn the city's new waterfront park.
Newshub.
