Save that wire!

When it comes to metallic wire artworks, you’ll have a tough time finding a more talented artist than @tdaiki1216, a young Japanese art graduate who seems able to twist copper and brass wire into pretty much anything he sets his mind to, from sculptures that look like drawn manga, to slithering snakes and giant insects.

@tdaiki1216, whose real name is Tsutamoto Dawiki, first made headlines in Japan two years ago, when his incredibly detailed wire sculptures imitating manga drawings went viral on Twitter. Fixed into square wooden blocks and placed against a white background, his artworks looked exactly like manga comics, even though they were actually twisted pieces of wire.

Those were impressive enough, but @tdaiki1216 has stepped up his game even more over these last few years, and is now specializing in more complex wire sculptures, some of which are simply mind-blowing.

 Tsutamoto Dawiki’s Twitter page is full of other incredible copper and brass wire sculpture, from giant moths and cicadas with their wings fully spread, to various beetles, dragonflies and even anime characters. Some of them are so complex that it’s hard to believe they are made entirely of metallic wire.

Talking with online magazine Irorio about how he started working with metallic wire, @tdaiki1216 said that it happened completely by accident.  He was a member of a tennis club during junior high school, and one day he found a piece of wire on the tennis court. He started playing with it, and he hasn’t stopped playing with wire since.

:o)