Ira Sherman’s mechanical sculptures: yes sir, may I have another?

Entombed in an ancient Geocities site, Ira Sherman’s mechanized sculpture (Google-cache) is unsettling in a very seductive way. It’s as if medieval doctors were transported to some futuristic-sounding year (what is that year, now that we live in 2009?), given free reign to unwilling subjects and a metal shop. The machines are terrifying, to be sure, but there are also delicately executed, elegant, and, you know, shiny. If you’re going to have your jaws forceably shut, your head shrouded in a maze of machinery and megolomaniacal pavlovian desires- you might as well look good.

“ A self contained 500 psi air supply, coupled to a pneumatic sensor switch under the chin, can be adjusted to a persons’ jaw, sending bursts of air to the large pneumatic cylinders which effectively muzzle the wearer if they open their mouth. While this feature alone is an effective deterrent to excessive jaw movement, the PT has a built in head locking device which, when placed on the head, will immediately lock down on the head with pneumatic levers which squeeze between the eyes and behind the neck.”

Dear lord.

To save you the trouble of trying to find it throught dying site,  here’s the same artist, (Google-cache) this time with a series of chastity belts, with miniture bear traps situated just so.

(Oh dear! we’ve Slashdotted the poor Geocities site! I didn’t know had had the mojo! – Jake)