Christian Ristow is an artist who builds kinetic powered robots; the performances by these robots often feature a provocative mix of post apocalyptic mayhem and playful iconism. The reason he ‘brings these machines to life’ is simply for one single reason; to fight each other and destroy targets in a mechanical staged performance.
Ristow sometimes stages contrasting shows like Sex & Death, Money & Hate, etc, by choosing these themes he gets to express his own views on various subjects. He also notes that this is a very good way for him to release his stress, aggression and violent urges – by smashing things up with a robot.
Parents…? Well he’s the son of a plastic surgeon and a fine artist (both artists in their own rights) & therefore has naturally had a liking to art since a young age.
Ristow sometimes stages contrasting shows like Sex & Death, Money & Hate, etc, by choosing these themes he gets to express his own views on various subjects. He also notes that this is a very good way for him to release his stress, aggression and violent urges – by smashing things up with a robot.
Parents…? Well he’s the son of a plastic surgeon and a fine artist (both artists in their own rights) & therefore has naturally had a liking to art since a young age.
Christian Ristow - Air Claw
Here is one of his pieces of work called Air Claw. The air claw is a wall-mounted, compressed air-driven three-fingered claw constructed from aluminum and steel. It was originally displayed in the San Francisco gallery, Blasthaus. It was later selected to be in the 1997 California State Fair, where it won first place in the Sculpture division. When mounted in a public space, its simple, hard-wired pendant control allows it to be operated by virtually any idiot. Due to its compressed-air design, it is very fast, very loud, and has the capacity to slash and puncture a variety of sacrificial substances.
I think the peak of his artistic life so far was when he was introduced to Animatronic Special Effects (while he was living in San Francisco). And since joining that field, he has been involved with some high profile people/companies, e.g. from adverts like Nike to movies like Flubber (1997) & Bicentennial Man (1999). If these films have been seen by anyone, they would immediately recognize his influence in the films.
Earlier on, Ristow was influenced by the works of sculptors and architects – such as Jean Tingueley and Santiago Calatrava. Needless to say, his work has been published (as expected) in books like Robo Sapiens and Body Probe, as well as numerous magazines, e.g. Wired, Raygun & Gadfly. And even on the Discovery Channels Robots Rising. This artist definitely doesn’t fall short for publicity – or concepts for destruction.
He is currently residing in Los Angeles and is devising new ways to destroy and burn the icons society holds so dear.
NOTE:Christian Ristow’s work reminds me of Hagime Sorayama – a robot fetish digital artist. His work is really impressive, though it is pretty mature oriented (so no chance of sharing with the younger audience).
I personally like this type of art – as long as I’m the one controlling the mechanical parts. I think watching this type of art is enough to give me some kind of rush from thinking up the many possible uses of it.
I may actually be persuaded to base my project on similar grounds as this.
Links:
Personal site:
http://christianristow.com/
A bit more deeper:
http://current.com/items/76307962_robochrist
Video Clips:
Just two minor examples of his distruction:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XePpUek4Mc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pLTz_SsdZ8
Books:
Robo Sapiens / Authors’ - Peter Menzel & Faith D'Aluisio
ISBN – 13: 978-0262632454
Body Probe / Author – David Wood
ISBN – 13: 978-1840680041
I think the peak of his artistic life so far was when he was introduced to Animatronic Special Effects (while he was living in San Francisco). And since joining that field, he has been involved with some high profile people/companies, e.g. from adverts like Nike to movies like Flubber (1997) & Bicentennial Man (1999). If these films have been seen by anyone, they would immediately recognize his influence in the films.
Earlier on, Ristow was influenced by the works of sculptors and architects – such as Jean Tingueley and Santiago Calatrava. Needless to say, his work has been published (as expected) in books like Robo Sapiens and Body Probe, as well as numerous magazines, e.g. Wired, Raygun & Gadfly. And even on the Discovery Channels Robots Rising. This artist definitely doesn’t fall short for publicity – or concepts for destruction.
He is currently residing in Los Angeles and is devising new ways to destroy and burn the icons society holds so dear.
NOTE:Christian Ristow’s work reminds me of Hagime Sorayama – a robot fetish digital artist. His work is really impressive, though it is pretty mature oriented (so no chance of sharing with the younger audience).
I personally like this type of art – as long as I’m the one controlling the mechanical parts. I think watching this type of art is enough to give me some kind of rush from thinking up the many possible uses of it.
I may actually be persuaded to base my project on similar grounds as this.
Links:
Personal site:
http://christianristow.com/
A bit more deeper:
http://current.com/items/76307962_robochrist
Video Clips:
Just two minor examples of his distruction:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XePpUek4Mc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pLTz_SsdZ8
Books:
Robo Sapiens / Authors’ - Peter Menzel & Faith D'Aluisio
ISBN – 13: 978-0262632454
Body Probe / Author – David Wood
ISBN – 13: 978-1840680041
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