Our Gallery: Hot Rods and Other Beasts

Hot Rod culture has got a lot in common with dieselpunk. Both merge elements of the past with modern technologies. They share a dream of “the future we were promised” and break the border between fantasy and reality.

Lisa Rebmann aka LadyDeuce @ DeviantArt is a German computer graphics artist. She is very active in virtual tuning & customization – and drives a real 1966 Volvo Amazon (customized, of course). You are welcome to visit her website.

Here is a small gallery of her artwork:

Real Gothic Hot Rod by LadyDeuce

 

Our Gallery: In Memory of a Friend

In 2007, a series of black & white images was presented to the members of LiveJournal Dieselpunk community. The author, Vladimir Ozerny, explained that most of the artwork was created long before he had been exposed to dieselpunk – or dieselpunk had been exposed to him.

Vladimir Ozerny. Half Self-Portrait

His pictures, rough and expressive, looked amateurish and even primitive when put together with paintings and graphics of Keith Thompson or Dusso. His comments were simplicity itself. But behind this deceptive image was a man of the world inspired by Futurism and Vorticism, Art Deco and revolutionary posters. A man in love with aviation, automobiles and skyscrapers. A visionary who didn’t care much about public opinion.

Vladimir Ozerny. Time to Move

On January 31, 2012, Vladimir had a stroke. And died. He was 49 years old. Let his memory be blessed.

Here’s a small gallery of Vladimir Ozerny’s drawings and compositions, taken from his blog.

Vladimir Ozerny. Air Parade

 

Our Gallery: The Fantastic Art of 600v

“One of the most beloved artists in the world of dieselpunk” – wrote Tome Wilson about a Russian guy who calls himself 600v on DeviantArt or ixlrlxi in his LiveJournal. We can add that he was also one of the first artists to tag his works as ‘Dieselpunk’.
A short excerpt from his interview published on Dieselpunks.org (2009): “I love the solid feel, reliability and natural sleekness of cars and devices from the 50s. Obviously nobody tried to save on rough stuff, and the beauty of the object was much more important over its functionality. Today’s things are functional, but they suffer from dystrophy, economy standards and overall design simplicity killed the beauty. “
And a few lines (from the same interview) about 600v’s creative process: “Speaking of 3D, first I build the image in my mind. I put the earphones on, close my eyes and imagine the basics of a future object. Sometimes I wave my hands in the process, like a Chinese Wushu master. It must look very funny. When the framework is registered in my memory I take a pencil and draw some basic lines – though this step can be easily omitted. The next step is work with polygons. My conventional drawing until last year looked just by the book – A4 sheet, a pencil and an eraser. When the concept takes visual shape, I scan the picture and colorize it with the Painter program. “
600v’s manner is unique, every object combining familiar real-world features with sheer imagination. You see it once and you’ll never forget it, no matter if the object is a zombie car, a sci-fi hovercraft or a streamline kitchen device.
Five years of work, admired by dieselpunks all over the world. Thirty-two images, published by the author’s kind permission. You can see much more on DeviantArt.

seventh by 600v (2007)

flycar3 by 600v (2007)

 

Our Gallery: Gotham City Revisited

Gotham City is the virtual capital of Dieselpunk. Once a nickname of New York City, introduced by good old Washington Irving in early 19th century (and derived from a Nottinghamshire village famous for its simpletons), it obtained an all-new meaning in 1930s, evolving into a synonym of all things dark. Modern Gotham can be found far from Manhattan. With a sharp eye and a bit of inspiration you can see every modern megalopolis as Gotham City – and Toronto (Ontario, Canada) is no exclusion.

Here are some photographs taken by Ryan aka Metrix X @ Flickr, from his Gotham City set: