Kinetic Creations of Didier Legros

David recently received a friendly email from Didier Legros of France. He shared that he has been following David's work for years and that he also follows this blog. But he also included a link to a video of his newest creation called "Chaos". It is an extraordinary rolling ball machine. Didier said that he has been creating kinetic sculpture for ten years and working on this piece for the past 7 months. He has put over 1700 hours into is creation.

The sculpture includes five independent units and 50 jumping balls along with over 8 linear meters of movement. He has also put a lot of time into creating a mesmerizing video which focuses on interesting smaller motions within the whole. Take a few minutes to enjoy "Chaos" by Didier Legros.

This sculpture will be traveling to NYC next May. Hopefully I'll get a chance to see it.

Here is a link to Didier's website with more information about Didier and his other kinetic sculptures.

Quandary • Another Kinetic Sculpture Edition is Done

David and I get to have a celebration dinner every time he completes an edition. During March he made the last four Quandary kinetic sculptures in an edition that numbered 95.

Three have been shipped and the last will go out this week.

There is always a mixed set of emotions with the completion of an edition. We are pleased to be done with an edition because it is great that they are selling, but also David is generally ready to move on to something new long before he reaches 95! But there is also a sense of loss. Quandary has been shipping since April of 2009. One could almost say it has become a member of the family! Its entire existence has been since the economy crash of 2008 and still, it sold out! 

Two things happen next..... a new sculpture gets introduced (coming soom!) and a whole bunch of new orders come in for Quandary. It never fails - many people wait until an edition is gone before they finally get around to ordering.

And no, David doesn't make more! But we do get to go out to dinner.

Incredible Kinetic Sculptures of Bob Potts

I recently saw the kinetic work of seventy year old sculptor Bob Potts online. He had training in metal working but also exposure to the music world and George Rhoads according to an interview by Daniel Busby published here. Not only was I impressed by his sculpture but also the beautiful animated gifs showing his work on Colossal here.

He, like David, has been captivated by the motion of flight although his sculptures key in on the working of wings.  David's flight studies have centered on the soaring aspect. Bob Potts worked with George Rhoads for 20 years before gaining enough confidence to create works of his own design. Here is a video well worth watching. The details are beautiful.

via Colossal

Marble Machines by Paul Grundbacher

Do you remember the first rolling ball kinetic sculpture you experienced? I know the first time I viewed one. We (David and I) were captivated and stayed watching every ball for a very long time. I am sure it was a George Rhoades creation but I am not sure if it was the one in the United terminal at Logan Airport in Boston or the one at the Boston Science Museum. We visited both many times over the years. The art of rolling ball sculptures has come a very long way yet many of the initial actions from those early designs keep reappearing. This week the blog world is alive witih the recently shared work of Swiss sculptor Paul Grunbacher.

Videos of seven wonderful, entertaining and beautifully crafted wooden marble machines have been posted for all of us to enjoy. 

Regenschiff (Rain Ship) - 2009

These videos where assembled for a March 17th article in Woodgears which is a woodworking site for engineers. I know there are many engineers that follow my work and you might want to journey over to that site for some interesting exploring.

Archimedis - 2012

 Mr. Grundbacher shares that he doesn't work from plans or even advanced planning. He builds by tinkering. He "plans" directly in wood most of which is ash, maple and linden firewood from a local factory.

Etagen ( Floors) -2010 - Inspired by the videos shared by Denha

Quatro- 2010 - Quatro was inspired by the work of Brad Litwin.

Fischtreppe ( Fish Ladder) - 2010

Lift- 2009 Based on a design by M. Wandel

Chaos - 2009 - This is Paul's first design and he used many ideas he'd gathered from around the web including an article at Woodgears that includes 12 construction videos for tutorials.

Do you have a favorite?

Mark Beery Photographs the Kinetic Sculpture of Mark Brzeszkiewicz

Recently we shared with you the work of a fellow kinetic sculpture Mark Brzeszkiewicz on a blog post here. Mark was competing in the Kinetic Art Organizations Kinetic Art Competition in Boyton Beach, Florida and we asked him to share photos of the event with us. He hooked us up with photographer Mark Beers who has created extremely beautiful photographs that are works of art in their own right. These are photos of some of the kinetic sculptures completed by Mark Brzeszkiewiz.

Absolutely stunning!  Here are some links for additional information:

Mark Beery Photography

Mark Brzeszkiewicz Kinetic Sculpture