Near Santa Fe, New Mexico, in the foothills of the Sangre de Christo Mountains, eerie robots loom out of the pinon and juniper scrub. They suggest icons of the world's religions - Buddhist, Christian and American Indian - and they have titles like Hopi Nuclear Mudhead No.1 and Pontius Pilot Award for Washing Hands of Nuclear Situation. Grim humor is reflected not only in the names of these sculptures but also in the recycled materials Tony Price uses to create his works of art: The gleaming machined parts come from the Los Alamos National Laboratory, which does defense work and in 1945 produced the first atomic weapon.
     In that year Price, the son of a Brooklyn stockbroker, was eight, and he began preparing for Armageddon. "The minute the bomb was introduced, a huge cloud was cast over the world," he says. "We've been living as nuclear hostages ever since." After being expelled from a prep school, Price joined the Marines. In the service he began painting murals and protraits. Afet discharge he wroked as an illustrator in New York before moving west. There in 1965 a friend showed him some pieces of test tube bottles found inthe Los Alamos salvage heaps, where a scrap auction is held weekly.
     Price went to see for himself and found wha the calls "a perfect mountain of art," piles of brass, stainless steel, aluminum, plastic and bits of electronics thrown away by scientists and technicians. Inspired by the aesthtic quality of this atomic junk pile, he bought some pieces and began to fuse them - his own way to beat swrds into plowshares.
     Price works slowly, sometimes taking a year to find just the right juxtaposition of pieces. He welds, glues, drills and bolts until he has the effigy that seems most evocative. The pieces have an ominous beauty that has persuaded such notables as musician James Taylor, fashoin designer Diane von Furstenberg and Hollywood's Dennis Hopper to pay upwards of $3000 per Price. The work has been shown in New York's Battery park and at several galleries. Tommy Hicks of the Shidoni Gallery in Tesuque, New Mexico, explains, "Price is a very primitive artist using some of the most advanced technology. He's trying to turn out something good from something destructive." Price himself says, "It's a reverse voodoo system. It's my own catharsis of nuclear tension. I hope it turns other people on to an avenue where they can defeat the nuclear program." About 100 of his works are on display at TENGAM at Project Tibet in Santa Fe.
     That the message of his medium is depressing may have a dampening effect on sales. Says Price "We're usually running on the brink." His wife of 11 years, Donna, a painter, teaches karate to help feed Zara, nine, and son Tem, three. Price supplements there income by carving marble and alabaster Indian statues for tourists. He also sells books, tools and other finds in a flea market. Extra monay goes into buying more of the discarded parts at Los Alamos.
     These days when he shops at the plant he takes along a Geiger counter. Although the technological deritus is supposed to have tested for radioactivity before being sold, Price claims that a few years back one of his pieces, called "Atomic Queen," was literally hot stuff.