Typewriter bust: Grandfather

Jeremy Mayer sez,

Here are a couple of photos of my latest typewriter component assemblage, Bust V (Grandfather). The initial inspiration for the piece was that I wanted to create a self-portrait in my old age. I wanted to say something about aging, transition (particularly transition into new technology), and the place of the personal mechanical machine in modern society, all without making the piece look too "robotic". I wanted to convey a little human weakness, malaise, boredom, and pain, but with an underlying strength and pride.

With all of the news about the closing of the world's last manual typewriter assembly line, Godrej in India, and all of the buzz about typewriters in popular culture, I feel like this is a great statement about this moment. I sense a great deal of nervousness in general about the advance of technology and what that means for people who are unwilling or unable to move on to the next step. I feel like this piece speaks of that worry in many ways.

I'll be showing Bust V for the first time at Maker Faire this year, May 21-22, in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Bust V (Grandfather) (Thanks, Jeremy!)

• [jere7my]

  Awesome! Does gramps have a tracheostomy?

• [fubbs]

  irony: the closing of the last manual typewriter factory in the world inspired an artist to destroy a manual typewriter.

  I’m kidding; I really like this. And I’d rather have this sitting on my coffee table than the original typewriter(s) it came from gathering dust in my closet.

• [General Specific]

  I like that there’s a face hiding somewhere in my typewriter. Nice work.

• [robulus]

  Lovely, lovely work. Really wonderful.

• [SonOfSamSeaborn]

  I wish you’d left the “artistic statements” off. It’s an incredibly detailed bust made from typewriter parts. Its only statement is “hot damn, I kick ass at making things”.

  • [El Mariachi]

    Funny, I was just thinking that as “artistic statements” go, this one is pretty descriptive, down-to-earth, and bullshit-free. Compare this to the usual Markov twaddle about “polynomial nomenclatures” or the “figurative-narrative line space” or whatever.

    • [Jasper]

      I agree, I normally can’t abide the pretentious artistic comments, but this one seems like quite a humble, succinct approach and I love the outcome. Even so, without it, the art speaks very well for itself.

• [Anonymous]

  wooooooh… cool stuff. although I would be sad if you took my typewriter apart. I still use my typewriter to write everyday. I scan what I type and post it to my blog.

  - http://www.awkwardengineer.com

• [spriggan]

  Kup is that you?

• [schadenfreudisch]

  typwrite or bust

• [Bender]

  Statement is bullshit free, yes, but if someone were to come up with those thoughts upon viewing instead of being told what it was, or could be “about”- 10 times better.

  • [JProffitt71]

    I was able to come up with that statement by looking at the piece, at least the part about the aging of technology, and the artist’s lovely explanation only added depth to it. Now if he had said some bullshit, that would have certainly detracted from the value of the piece, but he is honest : )

• [technogeek]

  Lovely. WANT!