Deep in the forest of Parikkala, in the easternmost part of Finland, lies one of the craziest tourist attractions on the face of the planet – the sculpture park of Veijo Rönkkönen.

Regarded by most as the most important ensemble of contemporary folk art in Finland, the sculpture park of Veijo Rönkkönen is a lot to take in, the first time you visit. Finding yourself surrounded by hundreds of creepy statues, grinning at you with their real human teeth, is enough to spook you into turning back as soon as you set foot in the park.

Veijo Rönkkönen, a former paper mill worker, completed his first sculpture in 1961, and now his yard, and the path leading to it, are filled with over 450 statues, 200 of which are self portraits of the artist in Yoga positions he has mastered so far. The statues have loudspeakers hidden inside them, and the sound effects add to the eeriness of this place.

Although he has had the chance to exhibit and even sell his artworks, in auctions, Veijo Rönkkönen has never agreed to showcase his art. Every time he was asked to showcase his work, the near-hermit always replied he needed to discuss it with the statues first. Sadly, they never agreed to travel.

The sculpture park of Veijo Rönkkönen is free to visit, if you dare, but the artist insists every visitor sign his logbook, before they leave. Read More »

Using his old Lada Samara Diva as an art medium, artist Nikola Nikolov has built a 2 meter-tall statue, named The Transformer.

The Transformer was created to symbolize the relationship between man and machine. The artist cut up his old Lada Samara Diva into pieces, which he later sculpted and welded together in the shape of a robot. The sculpture’s unusual position denotes the robot is at the moment between knowing what he was and what he has become.

The Transformer sculpture is 2 meters high, 80 meters wide and weight 90 kg.

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Jurustic Park is the brainchild of Clyde and Nancy Wynia, a couple of artists who create unique creatures, out of various metals, and scatter them through their yard, for the world to see.

This wondrous place was born in 1993, when Clyde decided to sculpt a giant iron bird, and hang it from one of the trees in his backyard. A curious neighbor asked him how he got his hands on something like that and the first thing that came into Clyde’s mind was “I dug it out of the nearby marsh where it inhabited the swamp during the Iron Age.” And That’s how his yard earned the name of Jurustic Park.

Clyde calls himself an amateur paleontologist who excavates and recreates the now extinct creatures that inhabited the large McMillan Marsh, near Marshfield, Winsconsin, during the Iron Age. he explains that these mysterious metal creatures went extinct during the 19th century, when farming and industry moved into the area. Many were used as parts for various machinery, while others were destroyed by the acid rains caused by pollution.

After 17 years of work, Clyde Wynia has managed to decorate his yard with over 250 iron sculptures, from large dragons, to tiny mosquitoes. Whenever he feels the urge to recreate yet another metal creature, he just has some iron delivered to his Jurustic Park, and starts welding.

Over 15,000 people, from all around the United States, and 30 other different countries, visit Jurustic Park, every year, and although Clyde never sells his large metal sculptures, he donates his works to charitable auctions, evey year, and earns about $6,000 for various causes.

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Tanys Pullin, a British chef, well versed in the art of cheese cakes, has broken the record for the world’s largest cheese sculpture.

46-year-old Tanys, who claims to be the Nigella Lawson of the cheese world, had to work her magic on a 600 kg piece of cheddar cheese, in a fridge. Although she enjoys working with cheese, and has been doing it for many years, she didn’t consider herself the best cheese sculptor, and was really nervous throughout the whole process. But after eight days of carving, she created a beautiful cheese crown, to mark the anniversary of the Queen’s Coronation.

Her ‘cheesy’ masterpiece weighs a little under 500 kg, which is way more than the previous record (290 kg). Tanys Pullin is now waiting for an official confirmation, from the Guinness Book of Records.

One might thing working with cheese isn’t very difficult, but cheddar is a very tricky art medium, and Tanys had to keep her cheese sculpture at the right temperature, constantly spray it with olive oil and wrap it up, after each session, to prevent cracking.

Photos by APEX via Daily Mail

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Called ‘Strandbeest’ (beach animals), the kinetic sculptures of Theo Jansen actually walk, using the power of the wind.

A former physicist, Theo Jansen has used all of his knowledge to create a new strain of life, creatures made of artificial matter that are able to use the power of the elements to move, store this energy for later use, and protect themselves in case of danger. Just like living being, Jansen’s automatons are constantly evolving, and learning new things. In their creator’s vision of the future, the strandbeest will, at one point, develop muscles and brains that will allow them to perform complex actions.

But today’s strandbeest are complex enough, displaying amazingly flowing movements as they use the power of wind. Some are able to store its energy and move for longer periods of time, while others have learned self-preservation, and stick their yellow tubes into the sand, when wind threatens to blow them away.

Reading about Theo Jansen’s strandbeest, and even looking at photos of them, makes little sense until you get the chance to see them in action. So, scroll down and prepare to have your mind blown.

Photos via WebUrbanist

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Adoptabots are cute little sculptress, created by Delaware-based artist, Brian Marshall, using various discarded objects.

Brian Marshall is a middle-school teacher, from Delaware, who creates these lovely Adoptabots, in his spare time. The fact that he’s not even a full-time artist makes his work even more impressive. Instead of leaving old kitchen utensils, cameras, and all kinds of other stuff rot at the landfill, this talented artist decided to offer them a second chance at life, by transforming them into Adoptabots. Now they live happily in his workshop, and can be viewed on Brian’s Flickr stream, or bought adopted from his Etsy shop.

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Using copper, brass and gemstones, Daniel Proulx creates steampunk sculptures and jewelry, inspired by the fantasy imaginary worlds he’s so passionate about.

His career as a steampunk jewelry designer began when Catherine, his life partner, took a two hour lesson on how to make wire rings. He tried it himself, and then spent a lot of time perfecting his own technique. Before he knew it, Daniel quit his job and decided to make a living on his original creations.

He never knew what he created was steampunk, until one of his friends told him. The Montreal-based artist was always interested in steampunk, but didn’t know there was actually a name for it. He started studying the culture and creating intricate artworks that are now sold on his Etsy shop.

Some of his works are so good that the Museum of the History of Science decided to include them in one of its displays. You’re about to see some of Daniel Proulx’s awesome steampunk sculptures, if you’re interested in the jewelry he makes, head over to his website and check it out.

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Pipe cleaners aren’t the most common art medium an artist can use, but that’s just what makes Don Porcella’s creations so special.

His art consists mostly of “humorous representations of a widely imaginative reality” made with lots and lots of pipe cleaners. Some categorize his crazy sculptures as creepy, while others find them amusing, but personally I think they’re a fluffy combination of both.

Don Porcella was born in 1963, in Modesto, California, but has lived and worked in Staten Island,NY. Check out more of his artworks here.

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What do you do with a totaled 2005 BMW 645Cl convertible? That’s simple, turn it into a kick-ass robot sculpture.

At least that’s what this guy did, after he trashed his BMW, beyond repair. He turned to metal sculptor, Bruce Gray, who used the scrap parts one to create a work of art, dubbed “Robot Sculpture 1” (I dare you to find a worse name).

While the robot’s feet are immobile, it does feature a movable head, movable upper arm and and a forearm that raises, in case you ever want to make a toast,in its presence. Bruce Gray’s robot sculpture is also armed and dangerous, sporting a pivoting energy pulse gun, and a movable joystick/fire button controller.

via GizmoWatch

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If this thing was for real, you’d need a lot more than a can of Raid, to hold on to your blood.

Back in 2007, Biologists from the Tyumen Regional Museum, who were examining the Noyabrsk area, for creating an eco-tourism route, for kids, stumbled across what they considered the most bizarre find, in their careers, in Lata village. A giant mosquito, as tall as an average person, was staring them in the face.

Luckily for them, this particular blood-sucker was just a sculpture, made from scrap metal. Local artist, Valery Chaliy built this strange monument, using old car and truck parts. It’s not exactly a monument, since we’re talking about a pest that no one would really miss, but the artist admits he was inspired by the millions of mosquitoes inhabiting the neighboring swamps.

Photos via svintuss

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Mirco Della Vecchia, one of Italy’s most famous chocolatiers, has set a new world record for the largest chocolate sculpture.
Mister Della Vecchia was competing with himself, for the new record, as he was the current holder, for a chocolate sculpture of the Dolomiti Mountains, made in 2009. This time, Mirco decided to create a replica of the Dome of Milan, that would be even bigger than his last sweet masterpiece.

Together with a team of artists Mirco Della Vecchia spent many days sculpting the white chocolate Dome. All the left-over chocolate was wrapped in small packages and sold to passers-by, in Milan’s Carosello Shopping Mall, where the event took place. All the proceeds will be donated to children of Haiti foundations, to help rebuild their lives.

Miro Della Vecchia’s white chocolate Dome of Milan is 1.5 meters tall, 2.5 meters long and weighed and impressive 7,500 pounds.

via GuinnessWorldRecords

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Italian artist, Andrea Petrachi uses things most other people throw away, to create amazing robotic sculptures.

Milan-based Andrea Petrachi was born in 1975, in the Italian city of Lecce, and quickly began taking things apart. Nobody suspected such a seemingly destructive activity would eventually stand at the base of his artistic genius. He takes old stuff like broken electronics, used toys and recycled materials, breaks them into pieces, and reassembles them as cool robotic sculptures.

Known also as “Himatic” Andrea Petrachi currently works as a video editor for RAI television. Feel free to check out his entire portfolio of unique robotic figurines, on his official site.

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46-year old Vipula Athukorale spends tens of hours creating some of the most intricate food-art masterpieces in the world.

Mr. Athukorale has worked, as a chef, in high ranking restaurants in Grece, Cyprus, Bahrain, Iraq and England, creating amazing works of edible art, out of butter. Actually, he uses pastry margarine, but “margarine sculptures” doesn’t roll as smoothly off the tongue. This fancy chef won two gold medals and a silver one, at the international Salon Culinaire Awards, in London, last week , for his detailed Rolls Royce, and scenes from Pinocchio and Pied Piper stories.

According to the artist, the Rolls Royce took around 90 hours to complete, and features detailed interior and underside. In order to get everything right, Vipula Athukorale doesn’t even breathe, when sculpting margarine. To keep his hands from shaking, he leans in toward the artwork, takes a deep breath, does some sculpting, then leans back and breathes out. He also washes his hands in ice-cold water, to prevent his hot fingers from damaging the artwork.

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Designed and built by Jili David, voted the most influential Czech artist of the last 20 years, this impressive work of art was unveiled on March 9, in the Franz Kafka Square of Prague.

Made using 85,741 metal keys, the sculpture symbolizes the 20 years that have passed since the Velvet Revolution. Keys were picked as the main theme because jangling keys were the symbol of pro-democratic rallies, organized by Vaclav Havel, in 1989.

The 6-meter-tall artistic construction spells the  word “Revoluce” (Revolution) with the lower letters considerably distorted. There has been some controversy regarding Jili David’s key sculpture, because the work was commissioned by international telecommunications company, Vodafone, who also collected the keys. Money from an international company, for a national symbol raised some questions in the Czech Republic.

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Made by the guys at RoboSteel, an Irish company specialized in creating artistic sculptures out of scrap metal, this Optimus Prime replica is the best I’ve ever seen.

Characterized as “the most amazing steel sculpture ever created by RoboSteel” this Optimus Prime sculpture is made of over 5,000 recycled steel parts, collected from a car, a boat, a motorbike, a dishwasher, a television and others. It’s 2.5 meters tall and weighs an impressive 550 kilograms.

Recycled Optimus Prime has been coated with several layers of strong, protective lacquer, and all the sharp edges were removed. Now it’s ready to guard your home against Decepticons, provided you’re willing to fork out 5,500 euro for it. It may not be as big as the Transformer drying laundry in Taiwan, but it definitely looks better.

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