Artist gives new life to old machines (video) | Full Frame - CNET News #overviewHead h1, #overviewHead a.blogName{ background: url(http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/ne/blogs/hdrs/2009/blog_hd_photoblog_980x70.jpg) no-repeat; } CNET News log in join CNET welcome, my profile log out Home Reviews You are here:News Downloads Video Latest News CNET River Webware Crave Business Tech Green Tech Wireless Security Blogs More Menu Media Cutting Edge Apple Politics & Law Gaming and Culture Microsoft Health Tech Photos Video RSS Markets #ieUpgradeRequest{ width: 980px; } .node1 #ieUpgradeRequest{ width: 986px; /* news front door */ padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; } /* news river page */ .pageType8328 #ieUpgradeRequest{ padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; } /* news latest news */ .pageType2003 #ieUpgradeRequest{ padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; } You're using an old version of Internet Explorer. CNET will work better if you upgrade to Internet Explorer 8 here. Sponsored by Microsoft close Home News Full Frame Full Frame October 21, 2010 6:44 PM PDT Artist gives new life to old machines (video) by James Martin Font size Print E-mail Share 1 comment Tweet

Sculpture artist Jeremy Mayer sees life in old machines, deconstructing defunct typewriters and transforming their keys and cogs into life-like sculptures.

For 15 years, Mayer has been making his mechanical creations, breaking down the writing machines to their basic parts and rebuilding them into human and animal-like sculptures. The machines, Mayer says, are infused with the energy of the works that have been typed on them over the years. He says he imagines the hundreds of wedding invitations, love letters, and draft notices that might have been carefully typed out on the typewriters' keys.

During a visit to his studio in Oakland, Calif., Mayer showed me how he works. With tiny pieces scattered about in a maddening mess, he says the process can be nerve-wracking and that he spends as much time thinking as piecing together the parts.

Inspired by the rich baroque futurism of Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" and Terry Gilliam's 1989 film "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen," Mayer envisions these layers of mechanics and seemingly infinite linkages between movements morphing into living, self-replicating robots. Indeed, spread out on his studio tables, screws, levers, springs, and wheels resemble anatomical parts, taking on new life as metallic muscles, tendons, and bones.

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