Gone are the days of the typewriter; the satisfying clickety-clack of the metal and ink-ribboned machines and the purposeful key strokes that had to be made ‘just so’ to ensure your font was the same hue are forgotten details of a long lost art. In its place, you’re probably reading this post on some sort of mobile device, or digital pad of sorts.. your books are purchased online for download to any array of devices and even your PC’s keyboard is starting to collect dust.
So, what happens to these miniature musicless organs that produced a sound only the eye could see, touch, hear and taste with the imagination..? They’ve become relics of a not long ago past. But to some like artist Jeremy Mayer, the vintage typewriter has become a medium of art.
The Oakland, CA based artist’s process is to disassemble typewriters and then reassemble them into full-scale, anatomically correct human figures. He does not solder, weld, or glue these assemblages together- the process is entirely cold assembly. Also, Mayer does not introduce any part to the assemblage that did not come from a typewriter – keeping his art pieces completely ‘organic’ so to speak.
Although most of his reassemblage work (he also does
illustration) is based on the human anatomy, his new series ‘New Typewriter Part Birds” consists of birds of flight. In particular, he has created a series of swallows whose wings have been crafted using partially assembled typewriter keys which have been painstakingly sourced by Mayer himself. We find these reincarnations of the heavy and rigid typewriters to be beautiful both visually and in meaning, as our first introduction to the personal written word has long since taken flight.
Learn more about Jeremy Mayer
here, and also check out
his Tumblr page which provides another look at his current work.
