If I had a fancy office to call my own, complete with a ginormous oak desk, I would adorn that desk with one of Ron Bell’s sculptures. Probably one that has a bovine-looking skull with wires crawling in and out of its eye sockets. So when clients came into my big, fancy office and sat themselves in the overstuffed leather chairs I provided for them their eyes would be instantly drawn to Bell’s bioelectrical steampunk contraption gone wrong.

This is probably why I don’t have my own office.

Bell created a whole mess of these sculptures, and his gallery, “Osteomechanics,” is on display at the Packer Schopf Gallery. According to Bell, his was inspired by 18th century Italian physician and physicist Luigi Galvani, who got a severed frog’s leg to hop again (loosely speaking) after introducing its exposed muscle to an electrical charge. Although, without all the gooey parts that go over the top of ‘dem bones, I don’t think Bell is going to have much luck animating his biomechanical monsters.

A few of Bell’s contraptions remind me of that device from Wild Wild West – the one Artemus Gordon (Kevin Kline) used to project the last thing some dead scientist had seen, which were apparently imprinted on his eyes. Yeah, that’s right, obscure Wild Wild West references for the win. That’s how I roll.

[Via io9]

While the full-sized skeleton looks like it’s inspired by 80s greats such as R.E.M., The Knack, and The Police, this skull the artist also made appears to have fallen off from too much head-banging. (Note the Judas Priest and Mötley Crüe cassettes).

For some reason, these remind me of the famous face-melting scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

[via Clutter via ALBOTAS]