Peter McFarlane Transforms Old Circuit Boards into Gorgeous, Poignant Fossil Art

<a href="http://petermcfarlane.com" target="_blank">Peter McFarlane</a>’s mixed media sculptures may look like fossils, but the detailed installations are really <a href="http://inhabitat.com/recycled-circuit-board-installation-maps-out-melbourne/" target="_blank">reworked circuit boards</a>! The artist focuses on transforming trash into fine art, believing that waste is just “a lack of imagination.” His <a href="http://inhabitat.com/first-photos-of-298-million-year-old-forest-unveiled/" target="_blank">gorgeous fossil pieces</a> look as if they were unearthed from prehistoric times, but are really a reinterpretation of the quick turnover of developing technology.

Using wires, pieces of metal sheeting and solder, McFarlane creates representations of creatures past. Lizards (perhaps tiny dinosaurs?), plumes of feathers, and herringboned fish skeletons are embedded in the glittering <a href="http://inhabitat.com/amazing-recycled-circuit-board-sculptures-by-steven-rodrig/" target="_blank">green circuit boards</a>, as if buried for centuries.

The figures on each piece seem authentic, partially submerged into the surface just as a rock fossil would be.

Circuit boards are also used as a basis and material for other sculptural installations.

Dozens of horses gallop in unison, each cut out from <a href="http://inhabitat.com/awesome-circuit-board-robot-built-entirely-from-e-waste/" target="_blank">different hued motherboards</a>, their textures still bearing the connectors that were used when the material lived inside an electronic device. Even wires are repurposed, coiled into a straw bird’s nest and perched atop a shelf made from a circuit board.

McFarlane’s knack of taking inspiration from the recycled materials he uses is fused with his deep interest in history.

The resulting body of work combines a conceptual notion of ancient history, then brings attention to the not so distant past. His <a href="http://inhabitat.com/tag/circuit-board-earrings/" target="_blank">circuit board</a> fossils in particular draw attention to our rapidly changing society, where technological innovations of yesterday quickly become obsolete, their remnants thrown into the trash as technology moves on to the faster and better model.