Pantheon Art and Johnny Depp joined forces at the UK's leading foundry Pangolin Editions.
Upon arriving in the Cotswolds, they met with Pangolin’s Founder Rungwe Kingdon and Director Steve Maule, to discuss an exciting future project.
Pangolin Editions was founded in 1985 by the husband-and-wife team Rungwe Kingdon and Claude Koenig, and have since worked with some of the foremost artists of the late 20th and 21st century. Gaining renown for crafting iconic works of art, on all continents and by a clientele of leading international sculptors. The sculptures they have cast have toured the world’s most prestigious museums, galleries and auction houses.
As part of the visit, Steve Maule invited Johnny on a tour of the foundry; where he walked in the footsteps of leading artists' Lynn Chadwick, Eduardo Paolozzi, Kenneth Armitage, Damien Hirst, Sarah Lucas and Veronica Ryan amongst many others. For an artist who uses his emotions to guide his brush, sculpture seems to be the inevitable next step on his journey. Johnny’s keen interest in the mechanics on display at Pangolin reflects his nature as a polymath.
The trip saw Johnny come face-to-face with welding, casting and the cherished craft-makers who'd bring his project to life. During his visit, Rungwe introduced Johnny to the life-size bronze edition of Sudan; the last male northern white rhino, who died in 2018. In his final years, Sudan became a conservation icon and helped to raise awareness about the brutality of poaching. Replicas of the sculpture are sold to fund the valuable environmental and conservation work done by Ol-Pejeta and their parent organisation, Fauna and Flora International.
Pangolin Editions specialize in larger-than-life pieces, and the latter being a bedrock of creative innovation, thanks to its team of skilled craft makers and progress across the field of art casting. Its most recent advances have been in the realm of digital technology, virtual reality and 3-D printing, which now has its own studio Pangolin Digital, dedicated to the origination of artworks. We’re looking forward to seeing how this partnership between Johnny and Pangolin will flourish.