The Tax Man – An Unbuilt Machine

In 1984 Paul Spooner designed an elaborate machine which was to have been on display in a shopping centre in York. (This was four years before the Ride of Life). The machine, called the Tax Inspector, was to be ‘an automatic window display to cheer up the passers-by’. It was to have six scenes dealing with a day in the life of the Taxman, and the finale, as the machine opened up was a dream sequence.

You can download copies of Paul’s original drawings and ideas for these scenes here:

The Tax Man: An Unbuilt Machine – £1.40
11 page PDF Download (5.2MB)

Simon Tait’s Mews No.10

Keith incorporated

It’s Keith’s birthday so he goes to the computer centre to sort out a programme, pops in to the overall shop for a new pair, answers the phone to me… the things you have to do which you like doing but don’t usually have to time for. Thing about Keith Newstead is that even his most complex pieces, the £1,750 Catcopter for instance, take no more than a week to finish. The little astronaut he made as a Christmas present for the real astronaut, Richard Garriott, took him an hour. ‘My palette is simple: brass beads, brass sheets, wood, plastic. Keep it as uncomplicated as you can is my motto’.
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‘Sad Frog’ by Keith Newstead

Keith Newstead has started making wonderful automata from the flotsam which arrives regularly at his local beach in Cornwall. The contents of containers lost at sea sometimes contain large amounts of the same, often colourful cargo, (lighters or legos).

This piece is called ‘Sad Frog’ and is a one-off design.

Height 24cm

£295

SOLD