Artist Turns Nuts, Bolts And Scrap Metal Into Life-Sized Animal Sculptures

While environmentalists have called on the world to reuse and recycle, artist Brian Mock has taken this concept to a whole new level by creating works of art made of scrap metal. Based in the suburb of Portland, Oregon, Mock taught himself how to weld and began to experiment with metal sculptures in the late 1990s.

He is currently working on a herd of metal animals, including larger dogs, cats and lions, made entirely of recycled materials. Mock meticulously selects each piece of scrap metal to match the shape of his animals — the dog tails are depicted as flexible metal chains, and the soft ears are made from giant bent steel plates.