A Pound of Flesh for 50P: An Unusual Wax House That Melts

UK-based artist Alex Chinneck is known for creating stunning, and often mind-boggling, optical illusions, that upgrade conventional architectural practices into something bewilderingly contemporary. His tryst with such alternative forms of artwork goes back quite a while, so much so that his repertoire includes everything from sliding house, upside-down house to an 184-year-old stone building that floats mid-air right in the middle of Covent Garden. This time around, Chinneck brings to you a Georgian-style house, in London, that is slowly and gradually melting!

Located at Number 40, Southwark Street, the unusual art installation is in the form of a life-size house, constructed entirely out of wax – except for the roof tiles, letterbox and door number which are in fact real. The temporary sculpture , named “A Pound of Flesh for 50P” is created as part of the Merge Festival, that celebrates the culture and history of London’s Bankside. The art piece actually pays tribute to an old candle-manufacturing factory that previously existed in the area for several hundred years.

The bizarre two-story building is built using 8000 custom-made paraffin wax bricks, sandwiched between terracotta sand layers. It took Chinneck 12 whole months of consulting with numerous chemists, wax specialists and engineers to achieve the authentic brickwork look. To ensure steady and proportional melting of the wax, the sculpture is being manually warmed with the help of external heating devices. Designed to slowly melt over the course of 30 days, the structure will remain on display till November 18.