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I just thought would be nice for them to

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see it but then people just started

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licking it and I was like what are you

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doing you don't know who's licked there

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before like what are you do like they

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nobody was afraid of that it was weird

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we've all seen sculptures made from

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bronze marble and Clay but what about

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sculptures made from sugar in Berlin

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Joseph's Amazing sugar sculptures are

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sold to collectors around the world my

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name's Joseph Mah and I'm an artist

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working with sugar in Berlin I'm

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originally from Australia we followed

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him as he revealed his most ambitious

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piece to date but first why sugar the

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visual aspect of it is that it's just

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very attractive it's this colorful

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glass-like material it makes you want to

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touch it and and eat it and have it and

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that's quite interesting as a substance

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because paint doesn't do that bronze

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doesn't do that but you have an

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experience of sugar daily all these

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different States during your day are

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affecting who you are it's your identity

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is Shifting constantly it's different

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transitions from being sleepy to excited

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from wanting wanting wanting more money

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wanting more power wanting more Security

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in your life those wants are represented

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really well with sugar so it's quite

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like this ubiquitous material that says

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a lot Joseph's work has gone

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International you can find his eye candy

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on display in stockhom Venice Sydney and

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Berlin some exhibitions I've had where

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there's been

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one sculpture that's protected from

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humidity with resin and one that's not I

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never expected people to eat the

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sculpture I just thought would be nice

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for them to see it but then people just

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started licking it and I was like what

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are you doing you don't know who's

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licked there before like what are you do

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like they nobody was afraid of that it

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was weird I just love the look on

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people's faces when they understand it's

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sugar cuz most people don't actually

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know and then when they hear that it's

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sugar they go what and then then they

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look at it again

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and I think that makes them feel more

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part of it when they know what it's made

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of so how do you make these impressive

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sculptures I'm using 3D scanning there's

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high resolution scanners that get an

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amazing three-dimensional snapshot of

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reality and that's really what I'm going

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for I don't want my interpretation my

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emotional interpretation of a human

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being the actual technical process is

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step one find your subject matter 3D

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scan a person in a certain pose then you

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need to produce the the 3D data into an

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object like 3D printing so then you have

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your positive and it's just a physical

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representation of the data then you need

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to make a negative of that and you use

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silicon and then you need something to

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hold the Silicon together which is

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plaster and wood and that's called the

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mother mold and then you have have to

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have a hole somewhere to be able to pour

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your sugar into and you're cooking sugar

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and you're pouring it in it's going into

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the hole and it's coming up and there's

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all these Bubbles and all crazy stuff

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happening happening and then it fills up

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and then you close it and then you wait

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till the sugar actually hardens it takes

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about 12 hours then there's time to open

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it and then you hope that it actually

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worked and the sugar went everywhere

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into all the difficult parts of the mold

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so there's also lots of trickiness with

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molds air pockets and all that kind of

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stuff you have to look out for once

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you've done that you open it up and you

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can take out your sculpture then I have

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to protect it like super fast and if you

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do that then um you have a finished work

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the cooking of the sugar process is

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interesting you're generally just using

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the normal sugar you get from

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supermarkets white refin sugar mixing it

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with water and then adding corn syrup or

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grape sugar you have to cook it quite

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hot to 140° and then you can add color

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to it that's the one secret I'm not

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going to dulge most people will just use

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normal food coloring that will degrade

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over time it will lose its color so I've

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found some special color that that

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doesn't degrade in the heat what are

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some of the challenges of working with

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sugar working with sugar is a unique

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thing it's incredibly difficult I'm

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doubting myself sometimes you have to be

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very careful with every step it's

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actually like treating a living thing

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you have to be so delicate with it so

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that it doesn't melt or it doesn't break

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temperature and humidity affect it

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greatly once it's made it's quite solid

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and lives for a long time the older

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sculptures I have now 14 years years old

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and they're doing well I like the

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challenge of making something that

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should be temporary permanent and now to

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Oneil Joseph's latest work his most

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ambitious yet my next project is uh

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called open heart it's going to be a

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giant sugar sculpture of a human heart

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and in a park it's actually going to be

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quite large 2 and 1/2 M high it's

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biggest thing I've ever tried to do it's

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about putting yourself out in the open

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so I'm putting my heart out there I wear

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my heart out on my sleeve so it really

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fits well we're going to cast the

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sculpture in the park we're going to

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have to cook between 500 and 1,000 kilos

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of sugar on site on the day three people

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at least cooking all this sugar for a

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good 12 hours it's going to be epic

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that's if it goes well it's got to all

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work as well it's all got to function it

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will stay there for 3 weeks and it will

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melt unless people come and ride

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generator bicycles to power and air

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conditioner inside the glass Bo box the

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air conditioner has to regulate that

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temperature and it will not be connected

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to power it would be only people riding

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bikes to actually power it it has some

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kind of a living quality to it and I'm

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relying on people's good nature what the

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artwork really about is just people

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coming together the shift in doing the

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human heart this is a different context

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for sugar it's the qualities that sugar

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has to represent something living

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because it changes when it gets too much

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humidity and heat it looks like it's

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dying it's this living substance so why

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not show life a living thing like a

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heart people like oh what's this part of

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the H what's that I'm like I don't know

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I don't want to know cuz the mystery of

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life for me is the magic of everything

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when you put your hand on your chest and

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you feel your heart beating you have

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that sense of this thing's keeping me

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alive you know and I love that's a

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magical thing I think I really want to

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understand life what are we doing here

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what is going on you know and I think

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that's why I focused mainly on people

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and our experiences if you talk to

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anybody you will find that they've had

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some version of a transformation in

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their life they've lost a loved one or

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they've gotten married or they've had

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kids I found it very very interesting to

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go into people's lives and to understand

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these Transformations and then make an

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art object out of it and as a real test

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it was really difficult and I like that

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as well some some challenge so what's

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the future for Joseph and his sugary

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creations with this project in

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particular the big melting heart outside

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I really would just love to do lots of

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that interactive stuff where people can

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sort of get involved because there's a

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real disconnect with art most of the

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time doing bigger projects for the

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future would be fantastic because I've

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just enjoyed this one so much I have so

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much perseverance to get through making

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works out of sugar it has been the

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biggest challenge of my life and so I

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just don't know where where I've had all

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the energy it's something to do with

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seeing the end result in my mind's eye

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and wanting to get there and I'll just

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put up with anything when the work is

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done and and you finally see what you've

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been working towards there's nothing

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like it and it's he's going to make me

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cry it's just really nothing like it the

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weird thing is it's it's always better

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than you could imagine I Can't Tell You

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Why that happens either it's a that's

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part of the mystery I think that must be

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what's interesting about it too it's a

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mystery