Poised among the vast foliage of LSU’s campus, a new sculpture has been erected behind Middleton Library that may cause students to stop and take a look on the first days of class.
The sculpture, titled “Growth,” is the work of recent art graduate Andre Charitat and has had its home on campus for a little more than a month. The piece revolves around the use of lily pads made of steel fastened to a metal frame so it can tower nearly 14 feet tall on its pedestal. 
Charitat said his initial focus going into his final semester was exploring patterns, rhythms, orders and geometries found in nature and trying to express those ideas while demonstrating their organic tendencies. 
“Growth” is based on the idea that as something grows, it has uniform patterns on an individual level, but when it is displayed next to 50 other floral forms, differences become more visible. 
“I was showing that there is some order to the way things develop while also trying to show that there are environmental things that change as something develops,” Charitat said. 
One aspect that makes the piece stand out is the use of bent and welded steel throughout the sculpture. It is made completely of metal, incorporating dyes and coating to give the lily pads an organic aesthetic.  
Charitat said early on, he had always enjoyed working with steel because of the physicality of the material, struggling against it through hours of hammering and sand blasting. Metal has an industrial nature or machined quality, and Charitat said he loves being that machine and seeing what quality result his hands can make as the machine crafting the steel. 
Even the task of constructing a metal frame for the sculpture becomes a challenge, but it ultimately allows for a more structurally sound piece, especially if exposed to the elements, Charitat said. 
Beyond the physical advantages of using steel, Charitat attempts to remove the boundaries between the industrial and the organic by breaking down the typical stigmas that accompany steel, such as its strict and linear nature. 
Charitat said he tries to open a dialogue between these two distinct concepts and create something that becomes a culmination of both organic frailty and industrial strength. 
He said his acceptance of the natural imperfections that come with hammering steel and fashioning shapes out of something that resists has become important in his works.
Because of this vigorous process, Charitat doubts he could create an exact duplication of the piece behind Middleton because each step was so individualized in nature. 
The piece originally was designed to be displayed at the Le Meridien hotel to embody the culture of the city. Charitat said the sculpture’s overall concept was to convey the vastly distinct people of New Orleans while simultaneously showing their oneness as a community. 
This is why Charitat said he was attracted to the idea of using lily pads in the piece — they are resilient but also float freely. 
Though that initial commission fell through, Charitat said he felt comfortable placing the sculpture near the live oaks of campus and that it was an appropriate home for the work. The design had to be adapted slightly with the change of location, but the underlying theme remained. 
Charitat said he was able to focus more on the central structure of the piece because the original design was going to incorporate smaller, secondary parts  that created a small environment around the sculpture. It also allowed him to design the sculpture to flow over the pedestal as opposed to be something rising over water. 
Now a graduate, Charitat said he plans to hold a craft job to have access to some of the tools and materials needed for his work such as a workshop and a welder. He also said he is interested in working with crafting more
artistically styled furniture.
Charitat said his New Years resolution is to begin branding himself as an artist.
“You have all these images everywhere of pictures you’ve taken or pieces you’ve built and you have your artistic ideas, but it’s hard to simultaneously keep your vein,” Charitat said. 
You can reach Michael Tarver on Twitter @michael_T16.