Luke Loeffler, who makes electromechanical sculptures, didn't always think he'd be an artist: The Oklahoma native attended the University of Oklahoma in 2000 to study computer engineering and pre-med. He realized that art was his calling before enrolling in medical school and hasn't looked back. Loeffler has lived in Houston, New York City and now the Pittsburgh area since 2010, and he got his master of fine arts from Carnegie Mellon University in 2013.
One of his best-known creations is “Monstroscopy,” the giant, pill-popping monster on which kids perform surgery at the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh, where Loeffler had a Tough Artists residency with fellow artist Isla Hansen.
Loeffler is single and lives in Wilkinsburg. He's devoting much of his energy to The Drift, an arts organization he co-founded with classmates to facilitate creative projects on the rivers of Pittsburgh.
The star who would play me in the movie version of my life:
Dolph Lundgren. The genre would be action-martial arts-thriller, where he's attacked by computers and dispatches them one by one with devastating drop kicks.
Childhood hero:
MacGyver, for his effortless resourcefulness
Pick one:
A. Go-Gos
B. Goo Goo Dolls
C. Lady Gaga
D. Yo Gabba Gabba
Yo Gabba Gabba
App I wish I could invent:
App I did invent: a speck on your screen that you stare at. Rejected by Apple for not being entertaining enough.
The superpower I wish I had in real life:
The ability to go without eating. I often get so focused on whatever I'm doing, I'll forget to eat, and then it's a big hassle.
I can't live without my iPod, cellphone, DVR or laptop:
Phone. Because the phone-shaped imprint in my jeans looks really weird without a phone behind it.
Favorite brunch food:
Huevos rancheros
Favorite guilty pleasure:
Large pizza and a six pack of Yuengling
Top thing on my “bucket list” to do before I'm gone:
Sail around the world
Pick one:
A. Pirates
B. Penguins
C. Steelers
D. Other
E. I hate sports
I hate sports.
My favorite Pittsburgh athlete:
“Hines Ward — what a stand-up guy!” That's one of the lines my friend Adam coached me to say were I ever to get caught in Steelers small talk.
Best mistake I've ever made:
Moving to NYC. I couldn't wait to leave but made connections that led me to Pittsburgh.
My quirkiest inherited trait:
OCD hand-washing
Favorite lunchtime spot:
Las Palmas Carniceria y Supermercados #2 in Oakland. Best tacos in town
My favorite reality show:
“How It's Made,” especially the food-factory episodes with the blobs of extruded goo
The piece of memorabilia from my childhood I wish I still had:
My Star Wars light saber
If I weren't an artist, I'd be:
Sea captain or forest ranger
In five years, I'd like to:
Run an artist residency on a boat or in the mountains … or on a boat in the mountains
My favorite thing about Pittsburgh:
The Pittsburgh Left. Drivers here are pretty courteous.
Celebrity crush:
I could watch Maria Bartiromo read stock prices all day long.
My favorite sandwich, plus fixings:
The Reynolds at the Frick Park Market with peppers, pickle on the side
What you'll always find in my glove compartment:
Those little flosser things
Three people I'd love to have dinner with:
Jacques Cousteau, Joshua Slocum, Quanah Parker
One word my mother would use to describe me:
Hmm. It's too late to call and ask. Probably “hard-working.”
The oldest thing in my refrigerator:
The fermented vegetable experiment that now looks like an alien life form
Exercise I hate most:
Exercise
I'm deathly afraid of:
Grizzly bears
If I were auditioning for “American Idol,” my song would be:
“Friends in Low Places” by Garth Brooks
The first band I saw in concert:
Van Halen, with my cousins, when I was 13 or so in Oklahoma City
The best concert I've ever seen:
Evelyn Glennie, renowned Scottish percussionist. She was running all over the stage playing hundreds of instruments.
TV marathon I could watch all day:
“Breaking Bad.” Addictive as meth.
Best new gadget I've tried recently:
This thing called an iPhone — it has completely revolutionized how we avoid people at parties.
Favorite Pittsburgh-area landmark:
The confluence — it's one of the few wide-open spaces in the city.
Saturday mornings, you'll find me:
Sleeping off a web-browsing hangover.
Star I'd like to dance with on “Dancing With the Stars”:
Eta Carinae is so hot.
In high school, I was:
Playing in a Nirvana cover band
My most-treasured fashion accessory:
Ka-Bar Dozier folding pocket knife in coyote brown
My childhood nickname:
Luke the locksmith, when I was about 8, for opening doors with a screwdriver at inopportune times
When I was 10, I wanted to be:
One of the Dukes of Hazard
The last book I read:
“Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History”
My favorite cable channel:
I don't have a TV.
My favorite Pittsburgh pizza:
The Bianca white pizza at Park Pizza & Cream in Regent Square
Movie I could watch every time it appears on cable:
“The Three Amigos.” I have watched it a plethora of times.
My favorite website:
According to my browser history, the Drudge Report. Daily dose of weird and irrelevant headlines.
My most-memorable fashion mistake:
There are no fashion mistakes. Orange vinyl rainsuits are the new black.
If I could live my life as someone else, it would be:
An extrovert
My first job:
Working at an Internet cafe
The song that always gets me out on the dance floor:
The song called “Alcohol.” I'm a bit of a dance floor curmudgeon.
Life would be better without:
Sewage in the rivers
If I could tour with any two bands, they would be:
Radiohead and the Dirty Projectors
I never travel without my:
Pants. The TSA has no sense of humor these days.
