It’s Mad Max meets Toy Story.

Or, perhaps, it’s one man’s junk is another man’s opportunity to teach the world about runaway consumerism. Italian artist Andrea Petrachi is such a man. His method of admonishment is to go through people’s trash, pick out broken toy parts, burnt out electronics and other discarded gadgetry and piece them together into some very odd-looking robot sculptures.

Here’s my favorite. His name is Rec. Seems quiet, reserved…almost melancholy.

Whether you think Petrachi’s work is art, a profound social statement, or meaningless pieces of metallic junk, you can’t deny that the robotic sculptures have lots of personality. Some of the more disturbing sculptures make me think of the work of San Jose artist Chris Eckert. I’m a big fan of Eckert’s work and, unlike Petrachi’s sculptures, Eckert’s are true robots equipped with object tracking capabilities, for example. But Petrachi’s sculptures are definitely cuter than Eckert’s.

During the day Petrachi–also known by his nickname Himatic–works as a video editor for the Italian TV station RAI. He should take a moment to turn the camera on himself. For those of us distracted by the broken microscope’s new toylike appearance, Petrachi’s larger message of conservatism may be somewhat lost. I think the sculptures are beautiful work, and that’s enough for me. But if he really wants to say something, the artist may not want to leave his work to speak for itself alone.

[image credits: www.andreapetrachi.com]
images: Himatic