Æ (XX-XXI) - “Metropolis x Grendizer” (2026) – Hand-finished, signed, numbered & CoA

BUNDLE!! You are bidding on a set of 3 original mixed-media artworks from Æ’s retro-futurist series, bringing together three icons from different eras of science-fiction and robot culture: Maria from Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, UFO Robot Grendizer and Robby the Robot. Each artwork is individually hand-finished, hand-signed and numbered from a limited edition of only 4 unique variations.

◉ Total size: 37 × 66 cm. Three artworks, each measuring 37 × 22 cm.
◉ Original mixed-media artworks by artist Æ. Limited edition of only 4 unique variations.
◉ Individually hand-finished using spray paint and pastel crayons. Each artwork is hand-signed and numbered.
◉ Authenticated by a holographic security seal on the included Certificate of Authenticity.
◉ Created on acid-free Hahnemühle rice paper for Sumi-e, traditionally associated with Japanese black-ink painting and selected for its delicate texture and expressive response to ink and mixed media.
◉ Individually registered with an identification number corresponding to the artist’s official catalogue.

Machines of Tomorrow

This set of three explores nearly a century of imagined machines through three instantly recognizable visions of the robot: the haunting artificial woman of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, the heroic super-robot Grendizer, and the retro-futuristic figure of Robby the Robot.

Although originating from radically different periods and traditions, the three figures share a common fascination: humanity imagining itself through the machine.

The first composition revisits Maria, the Maschinenmensch from Metropolis, one of cinema’s foundational visions of artificial humanity. Presented as the subject of an imaginary Japanese technological publication, Maria becomes an archaeological object from a future that was imagined almost a century ago. Mechanical diagrams, fragmented typography and distressed printing surround the serene metallic face, blurring the boundaries between cinema, engineering and speculative history.

At the centre stands Grendizer, monumental and heroic. The composition transforms the legendary Japanese super robot into the subject of a fictional underground technical magazine, surrounded by diagrams, spacecraft, annotations and dense graphic information. Here the machine is no longer an imitation of humanity but an enormous extension of human power—a guardian constructed on an impossible scale.

The final composition returns to the retro-futurist imagination of classic science fiction through Robby the Robot. Human and machine imagery overlap within an imaginary illustrated publication, suggesting a world in which robotics, memory and identity have become inseparable.

Together, the three artworks create an unconventional chronology of the machine dream: from the mechanical human, through the gigantic heroic robot, to the companion machine of atomic-age science fiction.

Rather than reproducing conventional film or anime imagery, Æ reinterprets these cultural icons through the visual language of 1970s Japanese underground publishing, vintage science magazines, manga advertisements and speculative technological manuals.

Oversized Japanese typography, halftone screens, cross-hatching, diagrammatic fragments, distressed blacks and deliberate printing imperfections give each composition the appearance of an artifact recovered from an alternative technological history.

The monochrome treatment further connects figures separated by decades and cultures. German Expressionist cinema, Japanese super-robot mythology and American atomic-age science fiction become parts of the same imaginary archive.

The result is a triptych about technology, artificial humanity, nostalgia and our persistent fascination with the future—particularly the futures imagined by generations that came before us.

About the artist

Artist and designer Æ (Spain, b. 1977) holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Digital Design and Multimedia Technologies (Barcelona, 2004) and a Bachelor’s Degree in East Asian Studies. He has been creating and experimenting since an early age with the visual language of 1980s computer graphics, developing his own aesthetic influenced by minimalism, conceptual art, Japanese culture and skateboard graphics.

His artworks can now be found in private collections in more than 30 countries worldwide, from the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy to Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Collectors appreciate the distinctive and immediately recognizable character of Æ’s work.

Æ’s artwork is characterized by a restrained visual language, strong contrasts and carefully selected imagery used to convey complex emotions and ideas. Stark black-and-white compositions emphasize the dialogue between light and darkness, familiarity and mystery, nostalgia and imagination.

Æ’s work was the subject of a review by respected exhibition art curator Thierry Fournier (Artnoises):

“Collected AE (XX), it comes down to wanting, breaking, transgressing, an invisible border, to merging the civilizational DNA of the future and the past, looking down and in the same second, rocking! the work becomes a ticket, a simple ‘go!’ for an emotional teleportation that we live and see in ‘Black and white’! Æ2381 pushes you to jump into a void, in fact, populated with images, symbols, unexplored signs that propels us to a Real Timeless!”
— T. Fournier (Artnoises) ★★★★★

All photographs represent the artworks as accurately as possible. Slight variations may occur due to differences in lighting and monitor settings.

Immediate shipping after payment, with appropriate insurance and tracking. Please do not hesitate to contact me for any additional information.

The frame shown in presentation photographs, if present, is for display and framing inspiration only and is not included. Combined shipping is available when purchasing multiple artworks to help minimize shipping costs.

We are a PRO and TOP seller with 100% positive feedback, so you can bid with confidence. Every artwork is carefully packed, and special extras are included with this lot.