UK sculptor Stephen Kettle works primarily with thin pieces of stone slate, using the material to build figures, busts, animals, and other objects. His most famous piece is a sculpture of Alan Turing (first four images) on display at Bletchy Park in Britain. The piece took 18 months to build and weighs 3,000 pounds (1.5 tons). (images via nolan huzenga, ken dougals, davkav, and the artist)
Shrimp. Thorax and head: car mascot and tongs; antennae: radio antennae; abdomen: Solex fenders and hair pins; tail: electrical fans; legs: bike brakes and snail forks. Click for detail.
Grasshopper. Wings: Moped chain guards; abdomen: bike fender, dolex fender and old toys; rear legs: bike forks; forelegs: bike brakes; ends of legs: plugs for plaster walls; thorax and head: pieces of cars and bikes; antennae: bike spokes. Click for detail.
Dublin Bay Prawn. Thorax and head: car mascot, old car wing covers (aluminium); antennae: bike brake cables; abdomen: Solex fender, hair pins; tail: electrical fans; legs: bike brakes and snail forks; claws: poultry scissors, chromium-plated covers on 50’s moped tanks, slicers; eyes: inside handles of 40s Peugeot. Click for detail.
French sculptor Edouard Martinet uses myriad discarded parts from old bicycles, cars, and mopeds to create these astonishingly anatomically correct representations of sea life, birds, amphibians, and insects.
I’ve been wanting to do a post about Martinet for months after first discovering his work on My Modern Met, however it appeared the sculptures had spread like wildfire and were covered pretty thoroughly there and elsewhere. So I bookmarked his website and visited it occasionally hoping for an update (this is basically all I do anymore, hit refresh on artists portfolios until something new pops up. Thanks college education!). Then I grew impatient. So I shot an email to Edouard and after a quick exchange he pointed me in the direction of Sladmore Gallery in London where he’s represented and sure enough with the kind help of Gerry Farrell I was able to piece together some of these lovely images of his more recent work. The bonus photo at the bottom is a peek inside the artist’s workshop where old bicycles go to die and new creatures are given life.
Here’s something unexpected. Just spotted this new sculpture of a bird made from dozens of birdcages by Kum Chi-keung as part of the Sculpture Dimension exhibition at Grotto Hong Kong. Click for a bit more detail.
I admit, this leans toward the creepy side, but it’s also pretty captivating too. This wax woman embedded with candle wicks was made by A.F.Vandevorst (which I believe is a Belgian fashion label) for the Arnhem Mode Biennale 2011. Reminds me of this piece by Urs Fischer. (via lenn cox)
A number of new works by Deborah Butterfield who assembles these striking horse sculptures using tree branches made from bronze. I can’t imagine the process involved in finding the perfect piece of wood for each delicate line. Her upcoming show at Danese in NYC runs September 9 through October 8, 2011. (via ex-chamber)
Creative duo Lars Marcus Vedeler and Theo Tveterås of Oslo, Norway have come together to form the experimental design team Skrekkøgle that I was originally tempted to call an art collective, however via their website they suggest otherwise.
We don’t think of ourselves as artists, as we come from a product/interaction design background. What we see ourselves as is a studio that does what it very well pleases, experimenting with products and electronics and the like, not necessarily being tied to a client.
Sounds like every designers dream to me. A number of their projects have bounced around the blogs lately, my favorite being this hilarious three-dimensional sculpture of the win screen for Windows Solitaire. Also check out their exceedingly clever big money project that makes nearby objects look tiny by placing them next to an enormous replica of the 50 Euro cent piece and photographing them using using tilt-shift photography. I can’t wait to see what they come up with next. Reading their blog they seem to fancy Colossal—what’s up guys? (via quipsologies)
South Korean artist Limee Young makes these diabolically complex kinetic sculptures using stainless steel components, embedded cpu boards, microprocessors, servos, and other mechanical doodads I’m not going to even pretend to understand. The devices seem to have no practical function other than being completely mesmerizing in a strangely perfect way. You can read a bit more about the devices on his blog and see a couple larger images on mu-um.
ADA – Analog Interactive Installation, is a kinetic sculpture by German-based artist Karina Smigla-Bobinski. The installation is made form an enormous helium-inflated sphere trapped inside a small room that’s spiked with dozens of protruding charcoal pieces which scrape the edges of the gallery wall as participants push, toss, and otherwise manipulate it. Most recently it was on display at the Electronic Language International Festival in São Paulo this Summer that took place in São Paulo. It’s fascinating to me that given the constraints of the sphere and room, a single outcome (pictured at bottom) is destined to emerge, but yet requires the participation of dozens if not hundreds of gallery visitors. Reminds me of the work of Roman Ondák. (via we make money not art, photos courtesy we make money not art, s.antonio, and the artist)
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© 2010-2013 Christopher Jobson, all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. I try my best to attribute images, videos, and quotes to their creators and original sources. If you see something on Colossal that's misattributed or you would like removed, please contact me. The Colossal logo and name Colossal are the trademarks of Christopher Jobson.
