John Lopez with his Triceratops Cowboy sculpture made of scrap iron. Credit: John Lopez/Rex Features
The heavy beasts look like they’re up for a scrap – scrap metal, that is. These sculptures are the work of artist John Lopez who welds the pieces from abandoned farm machinery. Based in Lemmon, South Dakota, the 43-year-old has created full-size replicas of animals such as a horse, buffalo, and even a triceratops dinosaur.
Artist’s viewpoint
“I moved to my uncle’s ranch to make a family cemetery. But after finishing a perimeter fence I ran out of material and, being 35 miles from the nearest town, had to search for usable scrap iron on site. It led on to working with the metal as art material,” says John Lopez, scrap metal artist.
Favorite weld-work
Out of all the critters welded, the scrap-iron plough horse named Black Hawk is Lopez’s most prized creation. “The plough horse is a symbol worldwide that we all understand to be a part of our past and history. We depended on them so much before modern machinery was invented,” the artist says. “I think Black Hawk is the one I am most proud of.”
Black Hawk is a scrap iron sculpture of a life-size plow horse pulling a single bottom plow
The welded scrap iron sculptures of John Lopez, South Dakota. Credit: John Lopez/Rex Features
By the Numbers: 5
It takes Lopez five months to create each of his animal sculptures. Lopez is currently working on an artwork that could take the artist two years to complete.
To learn more about John Lopez and his amazing scrap metal sculptures, visit his blog.
