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The ‘Mechanical Mutants’ of Sculptor Shovel Head

The sculptures of Yasuhito Udagawa, also known as Shovel Head, imagine a world in which animal adaptations are mechanical in nature. The artist has been crafting works in this vein for the past couple decades, his own evolution occuring that time in the elaborate and new creatures he concocts.

The sculptures of Yasuhito Udagawa, also known as Shovel Head, imagine a world in which animal adaptations are mechanical in nature. The artist has been crafting works in this vein for the past couple decades, his own evolution occuring that time in the elaborate and new creatures he concocts.


“I create life form objects, such as insects, fish and animals sometimes in my imagination,” the artist says. “Creating the body, I use paper-mache and wires. After painting with lacquer paint, decorate with metal and electric parts such as bolts, nuts and so on. Our life is getting more convenient with technological advance. On the other hand, so much material is wasted. If lifeforms evolve like machines, they might be called ‘Mechanical Mutants.’”

See more of the artist’s work below.

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