Chris Bathgate: The Machinist Sculptor

Chris Bathgate

Chris Bathgate is a self-taught machinist and machine builder. He has spent over two decades building and modifying a variety of metalworking tools and automated machinery to create intricately machined metal sculptures that defy easy classification. His works are fundamentally engineered, every detail methodically designed from the ground up. They illustrate that creativity alone does not drive human imagination, but that inspiration comes from the need to overcome technical challenges. By combining the math and logistics of modern machine work with an emotive problem-solving ethic, the artist bends the constraints of his medium to an aesthetic that plays on ideas of utility and ambiguous design intent. The result is precise and other worldly art objects that exude a creative logic all their own. Chris is author of the book The Machinist Sculptor: Industry Meets Craft, which explores the history of Machine work and its evolving status as a fine art craft, through the lens of his pioneering sculpture practice. It serves as a contemporary reflection on the modern state of craft, and a historical corrective to the technological dogmas that emerged during the studio craft movements of the 20th century.