Paul Spooner – Agnes Ashe

Last week I went to visit the ‘Marvellous Machines’ exhibition currently showing at the Ipswich Art Gallery. It is a fascinating, stylish display of visually elegant and appealing mechanical artworks.

Baba Yaga from ‘Baba Yaga’s House’ by Keith Newstead.

And, what’s more you get to push small, red buttons to make the automata work in all their whirring and squeaky intricacy.

‘Goat and Bucket’ by Paul Spooner. Mechanical sculpture.

In these digital times it’s easy to take for granted all our speedy, convenient tech. We click and scroll without a second thought as to what is actually going on beneath the screen.

‘Sit up Anubis’ or ‘Sleeping Musculature’ by Paul Spooner. Mechanical sculpture.

It wasn’t always so and the ‘Marvellous Machines’ exhibition reminds us of all those bewitching clockwork and mechanical objects from the past. Some examples such as mechanical toys were purely for entertainment and some were functional equipment that was often beautiful too.

Hammond 2 Braille typewriter, 1884. Hammond’s company motto was ‘For all nations, for all tongues’. You can swap different parts around to type in 14 different languages.

Functional objects from the past on display in this exhibition included a braille typewriter, a rather attractive ‘shrimp’ sweet making machine

**Shrimp sweet making machine.** (Donald Storer and Richard Durrant used this machine to make shrimp-shaped sweets at ‘The Homemade Sweet and Rock Factory’ in Felixstowe between 1950 and 1988.)

and a scale model of the an early Otis lift.

Scale model of Waywood-Otis automatic lift, early 1900s. Waywood-Otis used models like this to show-off their technology to customers. Traction lifts use pulleys and counter weights to move up and down.

Of course, humans have used mechanisms to make moving toys for thousands of years.

Naturally, in an Art Gallery some of the works on display are examples of art. These delightful mechanical sculptures by Paul Spooner are exquisitely crafted, and are both beguiling and witty.

Barecats by Paul Spooner. Mechanical sculpture.

I particularly liked the manner in which the mechanics are also on display in this piece. It has become an expression of our contemporary culture to reveal inner workings. Here you can see the cogs and spindles are finely made and are assembled in a functional and satisfyingly ordered arrangement.

Spaghetti Eater by Paul Spooner. (notice the flowing taps too) Mechanical sculpture.

Another work by Peter Markey, Artist-Painter, resonated surprisingly strongly with me. It’s as if he has been spying on me!

Artist-Painter by Peter Markey. Mechanical sculpture.

‘Marvellous Machines’ featuring these quirky pieces from Cabaret Mechanical Theatre, continues at Ipswich Art Gallery until 3 November 2019. If you can’t get to Ipswich a list of upcoming events displaying some of these mechanical sculptures is available on the Cabaret Mechanical Theatre website. Finally, Cabaret Mechanical Theatre sell some of their work online offering one-offs, limited editions and even ‘build your own’ kits.