Arthur Ganson

Arthur Ganson – kinetic sculpture

Ganson is a wonderful artist who, for one reason or another, hasn’t been fully recognised by the art world despite the many exhibitions and articles written about his work.  Gansons artwork may not lend itself to todays social media (one image per second) platforms, but given a little more time I think these intricate and witty mechanical gestures have a lot to offer. 

Each of the works made over the last 40 years or so have a contained purpose, a beautiful economy of mechanical movement which isn’t hidden away but is intentionally on view as part of the sculpture. Each of the works retain an open ended interpretation, despite their precise engineering, so they can be viewed again and again with new eyes.  

Ganson’s work has been an inspiration to my ventures making mechanical artworks which is why I wanted to share some of my favourites here. The following film shows four different artworks :

1. ‘Thinking Chair’ – a chair goes for stroll

2. “Machine with oil” – a machine that bathes itself in oil

3. “Machine with Chair” – a chair doing cartwheels

4. “Machine with Concrete” – reduction gears that will take millions of years to move the concrete block

please visit his website for more of these amazing sculptures : https://www.arthurganson.com