Kinetic Fauxbot Sculptures

Raised by two artists, Gould Nemo started drawing as a young child and received a traditional art school education. But once he started creating art with the heaps of scraps and junk he collects, drawing became unsatisfying and there was no turning back. Now Nemo creates a wide range of robot-like sculptures out of recycled materials that move and gyrate in interesting ways.

Nemo calls them “fauxbots” because they don’t really count as robots, at least not to the more technical robotics crowd. And he’s fine with that; he readily acknowledges that his creations are sculptures first. While many of them are inspired by robots, Nemo admits they are not necessarily helpful or useful in any practical sense.

Photograph by Gould Nemo

Nemo’s sculptures are made almost entirely from recycled materials. He only purchases a few technical components, like LEDs and bearings. To find parts, Nemo haunts a favorite local salvage yard and relies on garage sales, curbside finds, and the occasional dumpster dive.

One of Nemo’s more notorious creations, a

10-foot-tall robot sculpture named Goliath, resides famously in San Francisco’s ultra-ritzy Pacific Heights neighborhood, where it has attracted neighborhood scorn, the attention of vandals, and delighted tourists. Goliath is now a popular fixture on the local tour bus route. The gasoline-pump nozzle that serves as Goliath’s male appendage is one of his more attention-getting features.

Not all of Nemo’s creations are based on your typical robot. His latest and most challenging sculpture is a truly giant mechanical squid (more than 6 feet tall and 10 feet long) that writhes and undulates in a variety of ways.

“I am really fond of curved lines and surfaces. Aligning belt wheels, bearings, motors, and nonessential squid-looking stuff in an organic form that does not simply fall apart was a real thrill.”

—Bruce Stewart

Fauxbots: nemomatic.com

Make: 25