" Only in movement can we find the true essence of things. Movement scares us because it represents decay, our decay. I believe in change. Don't try to hold things back. Beauty is transitory. Live in time, with time. It flows through your fingers. Time is movement and cannot be held back. "
Seeking to introduce movement into sculpture, Jean Tinguely, a Swiss plastic artist, is classified among the neo-realists of the twentieth century. As descendants of Dadaism, Tinguely maintains ties to American Pop art and develops kinetic sculptures to explore Abstract Expressionism through mechanical movements. Tinguely did not invent sculpture in motion, nor was he the first to use salvaged materials for his works - such as Arman and Caesar. Its originality lies in the fact of bringing together these two modes of creation to form its strange poetic machines. The multi-colored sculpture machines initiate a noisy conversation with the viewer: through his works, Jean Tinguely communicates and interacts with the latter. The machine works and becomes art. Tinguely's works sparkle with humor, vitality, irony, and poetry. When analyzed in a deeper context, they reveal a sense of tragicomedy, enigma, and the unfathomable.