Bamboo is making another impression in the art world with the creation of “Big Bambu:  You Can’t, You Won’t, and You Don’t Stop.” This combination of sculpture, architecture and performance art created by twin brothers Doug and Mike Starn officially opened in New York on April 27.  Using 5000 bamboo poles ranging in length from 30 – 40 feet, this piece overlooks Central Park and will eventually stand 50 feet high, 100 feet long and 50 feet wide.

While the initial look may seem like a bird’s nest of randomly placed twigs, “Big Bambu” will eventually resemble a large wave cresting before the Manhattan skyline.  While the Starns’ work has always carried the themes of interconnectedness and interdependence, this sculpture adds in the element of time to make the piece almost mimic a living organism.  “Big Bambu” will never officially be “completed” but will be rebuilt and modified by the artists until the exhibit ends in October to embrace what the artists refer to as “the contradictory essence of nature, which is always complete, yet always unfinished.”

“The energy of a wave is constant and it’s continuous, yet it’s always new and becoming something,” Mike Starn explained. “And so that’s what we see the world as. We see every individual in society, and culture — it’s all continuous and has an energy flow.”

To capture this energy, the brothers needed a material that could bring the piece to life.  While they previously worked with non-organic materials of black pipes and clamps to create similar sculptures, the brothers realized that those would not allow the movement and flow necessary for this piece.  So the artists turned to the light and flexible bamboo.  It is embraced by the artists not just for its structural qualities.  With its rapid growth rate, the highly-renewable bamboo is a perfect symbol for artwork meant to showcase constant growth and change.

“We really had to find a material that really would be about life and then have the structural abilities that were required as well, and bamboo just came to mind,” Mike said.

The artists chose to work with two types of bamboo that were shipped from Georgia and South Carolina.  Madake, a Japanese bamboo, is the primary building bamboo. Meyeri, which is thinner and more flexible, and the larger moso bamboo are also used in the sculpture.

The massive size is intentional so as to take its spectators on a journey of “thinking you’re big, to realizing you’re small, to realizing you’re part of something bigger,” Doug explained.  Visitors will be able to take in the sculpture from pathways built throughout it or they can take a rest under a canopy within the structure to reflect.

Bamboo Clothing

And just as the title suggests, the expansion of bamboo use from household products to bamboo clothing to architecture can’t and won’t stop.  For more on modern bamboo use, visit Green Earth News section on Bamboo Trends.

*Photos courtesy of Stan Honda, AFP/Getty Images and Dana Chivvis for AOL News

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Tagged as: art, bamboo, Big Bambu, Central Park, New York City, sculpture, Starn