AWC Pictures

 

The stucco head of a young Maya noble with a deformed skull. Found in the burial chamber of Lord Pakal in the Temple of the Inscriptions of Palenque.

http://www.mna.inah.gob.mx

French artist Pierre Matter has a steampunk sensibility when he pounds out these copper sculptures, exploring Gothic themes while mixing up man and machine in a postmodern maelstrom. He’s been creating these crazy sculptures for the past couple of decades out of copper, aluminum, resin and other metals, and the suckers are big—some weighing more than 1.5 tons.

These sculptures are not something you’d want to have sitting in your living room, but the prize-winning work has been deemed good enough to occupy prestigious galleries around the world. Speaking of galleries, click through our gallery below for more examples of Matter’s work, some of which might be NSFW if you’re working in a church or nursery school.