I Wanna Live In Robot Town

Oh, if only I could weld....the robots I might create. Random metals are a wonderful thing, when they are brought together into anthropomorphic shapes. The first robot I ever loved was probably the big boxy one that stood outside the Arlington Motor Inn in my home town. An incongruous bit of whimsy in a town that was determinedly un-whimsical.

I had a metal collection for while, when I lived in Miami. On walks I would pick up odd bits of metal and take them home. Soon my collection outgrew its silver spray-painted cigar box and I moved them to a shirt box, placing them on a strip of green felt with sparkles, scavenged from a Christmas decoration. Enough metal to make a table-top robot. But I didn't have the skills.

Homemade robots made from assorted metals have an endearing quality that is part human and part retro sci-fi industrial, and I have long held that clunky robots are the best form of outdoor art. Baker Medlock, a local artist, is doing his part. He makes robots from found metal objects and has brought to life five large robots who stare out at passers-by from his yard. But Medlock knows this is not enough. He dreams of a wide-scale robotization of the KC landscape, and I applaud his vision.

He says,

“I’d love to donate some to parks and boulevards. Put out robots all over. I’m just lacking the space and the equipment. I’d like to get Kansas City known for bad robots, man.”

Bad robots. That's what I want!