“What I try to do with my sculptures is to create a new piece made up of other reusable items. Bringing new life to discarded junk.”
“Here's one of the prototypes for the mechanism that makes El Pulpo Work. The original Mutant Vehicle is 25' tall and has a huge octopus that shoots flames into the sky from out of its tentacles. It has a huge following from around the world. This sculpture is totally kinetic and creates the movements with a hand crank mounted on the top.”
“Ever since I was a young boy I've been intrigued by how things work. I also learned early on from my father how to make do with what you have on hand. It allowed me to be very thrifty and able to see different uses for items that were tossed out in the landfill. What I try to do with my sculptures is to create a new piece made up of other reusable items. Bringing new life to discarded junk. I use a lot of aluminum kitchenware ( pie tins, pot lids, cake pans, muffin tins and much more. This allows for a beautiful texture throughout the sculpture. People love spotting different items that bring back memories from the kitchen.”
- Muffin Tin
- Pot Lid
- Colander
“I started building El Pulpo Mecanico while I was in Mexico for two months. I collected junk metal and scraps I found on the roadsides and built a small working model. It has multi-articulating tentacles and the eyes pop in and out of the head. I brought this model home to Eureka, California and I worked together with my good friend, Jerry Kunkel, to build this 24 ft tall replica of the beast! It holds 200 gallons of propane and spews fire out of each tentacle. It also can shoot a fireball from the top of the head. It consists of 22 separate pieces which are assembled on site. It usually takes a full day and a half to assemble.” - Duane Flatmo
To learn more about the creation of El Pulpo Mecanico please visit El Pulpo’s website and check out Duane Flatmo’s Flickr album.
You can see more metal sculptures by Duane Flatmo in this Flickr album or on Flatmo’s website, Instagram and Facebook page.
