Chris Cole's one-of-a-kind kinetic sculptures

What is it:

People are now aware of what they do, buy, use and how it effects the environment. They have gone more eco-conscious now, not only in the product they are buying, but also in what they build. The three R’s is the regime of today’s green epoch. Many artists who are concerned about local and global environmental situations are getting ‘eco-art’ into practice. Oregon based artist Chris Cole has created beautiful kinetic sculptures using old bike parts. With his designs, he aims to explore the relationships between the industrial and natural worlds, and between human progress and humanity’s excesses.

Kinetic Sculpture

Picture Gallery

Machine Animals Sculpture

Sculptures by Chris Cole are kinetic, driven by either a motor or hand crank

The mind behind the works

For almost 15 years, Chris Cole has been working as a bike repairman and whenever he found some dumped part of the bike or some component which was supposed to be replaced, then instead of heaping up the landfill, he would collect those trashed parts and make full use of them in his kinetic sculptures. Yes, the figures that he creates actually move. Either of simple and small motors or hand cranks are used to move these small creatures.

The Inspiration

His creations are inspired by birds and aquatic life and so most of them have fins and beaks. Every derailleur gears that are commonly used on bicycles chains to move them from one sprocket to another are viewed as flapping wings of birds whereas a pivot point is considered to be a moving jaw of fish by this talented eco-artist. From his childhood Chris has been captivated by machines. His artistic skills started with a paintbrush during his childhood and this innate artistic talent is now appreciated by people worldwide. Wildlife as we can see from his sculptures has been his greatest inspiration.

Materials Used

The old bike parts which were thrown away or were used as clock parts, as photo frames and frivolous stuff like that has been fixed together to create these marvellous kinetic sculptures. He collects these useful metal pieces from his nearby recycling yard, which houses abundance of metal, and is also helped by Max Manufacturing Company that is a local laser cutting and fabrication company. All sorts of bottom brackets, scavenged head tubes and old greasy chain are welded and locked together using nuts and bolts into these wonderful, moving and motorised artefacts. The abundant bike refuse is reused and breathes fresh air in their new life as moving sculptures.

Art Works

Out of variety of his artworks, some are described below:

1. ‘John Deer’ is a bird with amazingly coloured metallic feathers.

2. ‘Gulliver’ is created out of 19 bike parts and 12 pieces of hand cut steel. The beautiful fish is just tremendously proportionate and looks like a living fish.

3. ‘Charlemange’ is a hand cranked four legged mechanical animal that consist of transmission fluid.

4. ‘Galia’, is again a hand driven fish that took around 240 hrs to be created out of 1226 welds, 10 bicycle hubs, 13 bicycle dropouts, 17 bicycle cogs, 105 pieces of steel, 24 feet of bike chain, 2 mountain bike cassettes and of course a lot of patience.

5. ‘Zypher’ is a mechanical dog that employs two motors moving its head and the legs each.

6. ‘Wilson’ is a cute and adorable penguin. This was created by the artist to bring into attention about the decreasing population of this species.

To find out more of his sculptures you can check out his website: ChrisColeDesigns