Michael Chaikin has been making "Kinetic" or moving sculptures for 27 years. Before that he was a hospital doctor and before that , a gardener at a religious college. He didn't really choose sculpture, it chose him and once it had got hold, it wouldn't let go. It was while he was living in Brighton as a doc. that one of his lodgers - an art student - left open a book about Marcel Duchamp - a true nutter but a genius unconventional artist who challenged the art world. Chaikin suddenly realised that art can be absolutely anything you want it to be; funny, outrageous, mechanical, mad, beautiful. This was a revelation which opened up a whole new world to him. The art he wanted to see was mad, crazy, mechanical but also moving and beautiful and really well made as if, dare I say it, by a craftsman! Fortunately, his sculptures look cronky enough for the brilliant engineering that underpins all his work to pass unnoticed.
This book illustrates some of his latest work from about 2010 - 2017. The first chapter is copper fish mobiles and the second chapter, perspex outdoor and indoor wind sculptures. This is his first book and by the looks of it, there will be many more. So start collecting….