On The Effects of Discovering Dieselpunk, et al.
Recently I've been spending time learning about Dieselpunk, especially the art thereof and its relationship to the design/visual characteristics of retro-futurism and other related *-punk genres. Mainly because I am strangely attracted to these things...they just look super swell and (with this particular genre) I love machines that remind me of pulp science & horror fiction. And, during this process I have begun to notice that a lot of my own work and the things I have been striving to achieve visually/artistically seem amazingly aligned with what I have been reading and seeing in terms of the thematic and visual elements. Bolts, bits of metal, mechanical widgets, incongruous technologies, post-apocalypticism (?) and glomming it all together ...that's what I do already but with no conscious thought of the genres or the art that's associated with them.
The thing is, it's a struggle to make it work, often not knowing what I am working toward even though I may have a working sketch to start with. I just keep hammering away at it, be it sculpture or illustration/collage until it starts to feel right and take a form that seems pleasing. Very frustrating process. It's time consuming enough just on the technical end of things, let alone trying to spontaneously evolve an image or form that has meaning or relevance yet with no reference on which to create such an opportunity!
This challenge resulted in my trying to extract or derive some kind of basic, underlying set of elements from my works both thematically and aesthetically speaking, that will allow me to have a better idea of what I am working toward: What exactly is going on in my work? This effort is not to have a cookie-cutter way of going about it but to better formulate a blueprint in my mind's eye, and then let the spontaneity take place. The attempts at this were not very successful until recently, when I started to study the art of Dieselpunk, Steampunk and their underlying ideologies and histories -- young as they are.
As I diligently work my way through the various writings and visual art forms of these literary genres, trying to a) understand what they're about, and b) deconstruct and discern the fundamental principles that makes Dieselpunk art Dieselpunk, Steampunk art Steampunk, etc. I am indeed discovering some very precise visual elements and approaches to the compositions that can relate the impression of Dieselpunk...or any *-punk sub genre for that matter. A distillation of visual elements and the handling of such elements. And more importantly I am beginning to see how the Dieselpunk and related visual systems can be applied in a non-standard (i.e., not yet done from what I've seen so far) approach. This realization is like starting to uncover a sort of Rosetta stone for the creating of *-punk visual art. At least, in terms of illustration...at least for now. But knowledge of it is one thing. Application of such knowledge in a skillful manner is another thing. And that's where the fun lies!
So now, as I fill my notebooks with my observations and extrapolations on my discoveries I think of how I would purposefully create stuff that follows my new-found perceptions. For example, one thing I've not been doing in my work is the obvious requirement of explicit integration of juxtaposed, anachronistic technologies and objects such that they look as they all naturally belong together. This is what will be the most different for me in new works along this line. But what's really cool is the idea that my efforts in this direction will have my unique take on it, the "Raydiovision" spin. I haven't seen anything similar yet to what I am thinking (shhhh...), but then I can't claim to have seen tons of work that fits in the various *-punk categories anyway. Nevertheless, the experiments have begun.
I think what I am doing is just different enough from the other *punk categories (yes its all related in any case) of art that I need a new handle, a name for it. All I can say to the reader is watch out for my newly invented sub-sub-sub-genre: Raydiopunk -- Wa-sah! More sub-genres to follow.
This post has been edited.
The thing is, it's a struggle to make it work, often not knowing what I am working toward even though I may have a working sketch to start with. I just keep hammering away at it, be it sculpture or illustration/collage until it starts to feel right and take a form that seems pleasing. Very frustrating process. It's time consuming enough just on the technical end of things, let alone trying to spontaneously evolve an image or form that has meaning or relevance yet with no reference on which to create such an opportunity!
This challenge resulted in my trying to extract or derive some kind of basic, underlying set of elements from my works both thematically and aesthetically speaking, that will allow me to have a better idea of what I am working toward: What exactly is going on in my work? This effort is not to have a cookie-cutter way of going about it but to better formulate a blueprint in my mind's eye, and then let the spontaneity take place. The attempts at this were not very successful until recently, when I started to study the art of Dieselpunk, Steampunk and their underlying ideologies and histories -- young as they are.
As I diligently work my way through the various writings and visual art forms of these literary genres, trying to a) understand what they're about, and b) deconstruct and discern the fundamental principles that makes Dieselpunk art Dieselpunk, Steampunk art Steampunk, etc. I am indeed discovering some very precise visual elements and approaches to the compositions that can relate the impression of Dieselpunk...or any *-punk sub genre for that matter. A distillation of visual elements and the handling of such elements. And more importantly I am beginning to see how the Dieselpunk and related visual systems can be applied in a non-standard (i.e., not yet done from what I've seen so far) approach. This realization is like starting to uncover a sort of Rosetta stone for the creating of *-punk visual art. At least, in terms of illustration...at least for now. But knowledge of it is one thing. Application of such knowledge in a skillful manner is another thing. And that's where the fun lies!
So now, as I fill my notebooks with my observations and extrapolations on my discoveries I think of how I would purposefully create stuff that follows my new-found perceptions. For example, one thing I've not been doing in my work is the obvious requirement of explicit integration of juxtaposed, anachronistic technologies and objects such that they look as they all naturally belong together. This is what will be the most different for me in new works along this line. But what's really cool is the idea that my efforts in this direction will have my unique take on it, the "Raydiovision" spin. I haven't seen anything similar yet to what I am thinking (shhhh...), but then I can't claim to have seen tons of work that fits in the various *-punk categories anyway. Nevertheless, the experiments have begun.
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| This is crap but other than a straight-forward painting or drawing of Dieselpunk subject matter what bits of things/visual elements can be assembled where it ends up being "Dieselpunk?" |
I think what I am doing is just different enough from the other *punk categories (yes its all related in any case) of art that I need a new handle, a name for it. All I can say to the reader is watch out for my newly invented sub-sub-sub-genre: Raydiopunk -- Wa-sah! More sub-genres to follow.
This post has been edited.
