Creating Miracles from Typewriters

In his Oakland, California studio, Jeremy Mayer takes old typewriters apart. He then creates full-scale, anatomically correct human figures without solder, welding, or glue. The amazing assemblages are entirely cold assembly. There are no parts used in his artistic pieces that were not originally a part of a typewriter. The process takes time. Much of the time is spent thinking… imagining… engineering. It is a process of creative deliberation. Creating anything from the mechanics of old typewriters is laudable. But creating animate forms such as Mayer does redefines miraculous. How much of the souls of the typewriters’ former owners and users linger in the parts? All the memos, business correspondence, invoices, reports, or personal yearnings created… one keystroke at a time. What sort of voo doo emerges with the gumbo of parts from dozens of typewriters used to create a human hand, a woman’s body, a deer, or a large spider? One can imagine… but only Jeremy Mayer knows.