With a childhood fascination of old typewriters inspired by his parent's Underwood #5 circa 1920, artist Jeremy Mayer has become a master typewriter assemblage sculptor. At the age of 22, Â he was given an Olivette Lettera 32 typewriter to take to the thrift shop, instead it would be the first of the vintage typewriters he would disassemble then reassemble into awe-inspiring works of art including life-size human figures, animals and insects. Nineteen years later he can still be found sitting cross-legged on the floor surrounded by a plethora of typewriter parts and tools. One distinct practice sets him apart from many artists; he cold assembles each and every part of his sculptures. That means no glue, no solder, no welding, no wire and not one part that is foreign to a typewriter.
While assembling his set of beautiful swallows, Mayers discovered he could make their wings partially retract giving the appearance of being in flight.
Among his many animal sculptures an octopus emerges from a myriad of typewriter parts including the keys he uses as legs.
A grasshopper assembled from many casing parts comes to life in most realistic way.
Mayer is fascinated by the way the typewriter parts he uses are the perfect blend between his childhood Erector sets and techo-Baroque drawings he first started creating.
Perhaps the most popular of his collections is the anatomically correct, life size sculptures of humans. Here is a bust of a male in intricate detail.
Mayer shown here assembling his 'Nude IV (Delilah), spent 1,200 hours working on the 6'4" woman scavenging parts from over 40 typewriters.
