Brett Mcdanel – Steampunk sculptures (USA)
Brett McDanel (Oklahoma artiste), également connu sous le nom The Crazy Bird Man” crée des sculptures steampunk avec des objets de récupération diverses, le plus souvent faite de metal et d’os.
Ces six dernières années, il a passé son temps à récupérer dans les rues ou société de ferraille des objets qui, pour la plupart des gens, sont insignifiantes : « Pour les gens, c’est juste un morceau de métal, mais quand vous l’assemblez avec d’autres objets, il devient quelque chose de grand … une partie de quelque chose. L’ensemble de ces créations ont une place. «
Il raconte à sa propre histoire de vie, en ajoutant : « J’ai passé la moitié de ma vie perdue puis un jour, il y eu ce déclic qui m’a remis sur le bon chemin … le travail du métal. «
McDanel crée ses sculptures à l’instinct en soudant et en broyant les pièces de métal. Les assemblages peuvent prendre des heures, des jours, voire des semaines, mais dans tous les cas il en sort une aura particulière.
Norman, Oklahoma artist Brett McDanel, also known as “The Crazy Bird Man” constructs innovative industrial steampunk sculptures from found objects and bone. For the last six years McDanel has spent his free time scouring the streets and the scrap yards for parts that, to most people, are insignificant. The artist states, “When walking down the street you find a random piece of metal that doesn’t belong there. All by itself, it’s just a piece of metal, but when you place it with other objects, it becomes something bigger… a part of something. All together these creations have a place.” He relates it to his own life story adding, “I spent half my life lost and then somewhere along the way something clicked and put me where I belong… here working with metal.” Using his background in construction he up-cycles gears, widgets, thingamabobs and other found parts, animating them into action as featherless fiends, clawed cats, humanoid busts, edgy furnishings and otherwise eccentrically whimsical sculpture that often delivers a dark comical mood. He does not sketch or premeditate the designs. McDanel envisions the pieces assembling in his mind’s eye and attacks his hoard of jumbled parts with welding torch and grinder in hand. The resulting assemblages may take hours, days, or weeks, but in every case create an object of whimsy and an astute example of the beautiful grotesque. Brett has created quite a reputation for his found object innovations. So much so that he now finds metal donations delivered to his home lawn and representative gallery on a weekly basis which has dramatically decreased his need to scour for parts and allowed him much more time to assemble them.
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