Buggy Robot Gallery: A Very Interesting and Strange Place in Oamaru
One of the most interesting and strange places that I visited while I was in Oamaru (besides Miss Purple Studio I guess) was the Buggy Robot Gallery. I had heard about the place and I didn’t know what to expect when I went inside.
The first thing that I saw was a sculpture that looked like a cow and had been made with pieces of metal. It was standing at the entrance and it greeted all the visitors.
Then I went inside the gallery. At the front, there was a board about Martin Horspool. Martin Horspool, who was originally from Wales, was the creator of all the strange sculptures in the gallery (and while I’m inside this place, I can’t help but remember the strange wooden sculpture in the lobby of Poshtel Oamaru). He had made everything by collecting waste materials.
There were some prints that were for sale at the gallery. They had been drawn by Martin and they were limited edition. They were pictures of robots and dinosaurs.
Just above the prints were two paintings of Superman and Wonder Woman. The paintings looked like cartoons and were very fun and colorful. I found the expressions of the characters very amusing.
Then I decided to walk all around the Buggy Robot Gallery and check out all the strange things that I could see. The artist had used old pipes and glass jars and door handles to make his sculptures.
A strange figure of an animal was hanging from the wall. I could tell that it had been made with old boxes and wheels and farm tools. There was also a cute little motorcycle made from scrap metal on one of the shelves. All the items in the gallery were for sale. There were little cards telling visitors the price of every item.
There were so many different kinds of robots, both big and small! As you can see in the image above, the robots had been made with screws and spanners and other metal tools. Nothing had been wasted by the artist.
Even the shelves that were used to display the robots had been made with scrap metal. They were old boxes and cans that were once used to store cookies.
I picked up one of the pamphlets at the gallery. I saw that they were even willing to courier their items overseas.
One piece that I really liked was a clock. It had giant keys in place of numbers. The hands of the clock would point at one of the keys to tell the time.
One wall was full of replicas of planes. They all looked like fighter planes and military planes and they looked very real. Pictures of tourists with Mark Horspool had been stuck on the wall.
I saw another wall of shelves in one corner. These shelves were filled with little toy trucks, buses and cars. Everything looked a little old and faded but I was sure kids would love them.
Some of the little robots had been made with oil gauges and batteries. Some had little spanners as arms. They all had funny names like ‘Yello’ and ‘Oiler’.
I went outside and found another interesting sculpture made with old machines and tools at the front. It was resting on the ground, just below the front window.
Mark had even done a cartoon self portrait of himself on the front window.
The gallery was closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and was open between 10am and 4pm on all other days.
Visitors could go to the workshop and check out the place where all the unique sculptures were made.
Finally, there was a machine that looked a little like a dog on the way out. It was called ‘Dougal’.
I really loved the Buggy Robot gallery and I was very happy that I had visited it.
