Artist Jeremy Mayer (previously) recently completed a new sculpture titled Skull I made from vintage typewriter parts. As with all of his assemblages the skull was created without use of welding or adhesives, instead the parts are bent, screwed, and bolted into place using only components extracted from typewriters.
Washington-based painter Tyree Callahan modified a 1937 Underwood Standard typewriter, replacing the letters and keys with color pads and hued labels to create a functional “painting” device called the Chromatic Typewriter. Callahan submitted the beautiful typewriter as part of the 2012 West Prize competition, an annual art prize that’s determined by popular vote. I don’t know how practical painting an image with a color typewriter is, but if Keira Rathbone can do it… (via dark silence in suburbia)
File this under archaic devices I had no idea existed. Here’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to own a mint-condition Keaton Music Typewriter. Patented in the early 1930s, there are only a dozen or so in existence. What does it do? Exactly what you think it does. Via musicprintinghistory.org:
The Keaton Music Typewriter was first patented in 1936 (14 keys) by Robert H. Keaton from San Francisco, California. Another patent was taken out in 1953 (33 keys) which included improvements to the machine. The machine types on a sheet of paper lying flat under the typing mechanism. There are several Keaton music typewriters thought to be in existence in museums and private collections. It was marketed in the 1950s and sold for around $225. The typewriter made it easier for publishers, educators, and other musicians to produce music copies in quantity. Composers, however, preferred to write the music out by hand.
Pick it up today for $6,000 at Jack’s Red Barn. (via neatorama)
Graphic designer Paul Bailey is a recent graduate of Kingston University in London and his portfolio is filled with lots of fun projects including beautifully designed infographics, these fun biscuit stamps, and even an idea for a tribute bell installed outside recently closed pubs. Most interesting to me though was his hacked typewriter. Beginning with the statement, “the beauty of the typewriter is that, unlike its modern counterpart, it cannot be hacked” (which I couldn’t locate a source, but sure, I’ll roll with it) he set out to redefine the fundamental mechanics of the typewriter resulting in a new interpretation of its core function. Is it useful? Not really. But I find the idea of hacking non-electronic devices to create bizarre new machines really intriguing.
An awesome new piece entitled Bust V (Grandfather) by Jeremy Mayer who disassembles typewriters and reassembles them into human and animal figures without the use of solder, weld, or glue (or even objects that don’t originate from typewriters).
