Our Gallery: The Streamlined World of Robert LaDuke

Only recently we discovered a modern artist who perfectly combines Diesel Era artifacts with today’s attitude. His artwork won’t seem out of place in a 1930s club or post office or gallery. But is it old-fashioned? Just well-rooted.

Swimming by Robert LaDuke (2012)

A short note from Bonner David Gallery website:

LaDuke’s narrative paintings are a combination of memories, dreams and everyday life, and as such his work remains open-ended. Paintings which tell a complete story from beginning to end are not compelling to him. He puts a lot of personal iconography into each piece, but does not wish to dictate a strict narrative.

LaDuke prefers viewers find their own interpretation of his work. Ideally, LaDuke’s desire is to paint works which create more questions than answers. Viewers are free to imagine multiple meanings in his work…

We can add something: Robert LaDuke’s post-modernism has a lot in common with 1920s and 1930s metaphysical art. The objects – all these aircraft, locomotives, skyscrapers, cars and trailers – are recognizable and realistic but the atmosphere is surreal, enigmatic, unpredictable.

Let’s open our eyes and turn our imagination on.

 

Our Gallery: The Vision of Tim Huhn

Dieselpunk Encyclopedia is happy to present: Tim Huhn and his Art Deco Series.

On the Just Looking Gallery website there is a short info about the artist:

After graduating from the prestigious California College of Arts and Crafts with a Bachelors degree in Fine Arts and Illustration Huhn worked as a commercial illustrator for companies such as Disney, Universal Studios, Sony & Mattel. After leaving Los Angeles and the commercial world of art, Huhn began to develop a body of fine art while living on the Central Coast of California. Huhn’s experience as an illustrator has enabled him to work in a number of mediums and styles including photorealism and art deco.

Dawn of a New Age by Tim Huhn

We can add something:Tim Huhn’s artwork bears more than a passing resemblance to the famous WPA murals. It’s fun to see a modern artist who, just like his idealistic forerunners in 1930s, is not afraid of figurative art. An artist whose creations are full of positive spirit.

 

Our Gallery: Dieselpunk Architecture

Francisco Salamone (1897-1959) was an Italian-Argentine architect who lived and worked in Argentina, built in just four years, between 1936 and 1940, more than 60 buildings in 25 municipalities of the Province of Buenos Aires.
Monumental Art Deco buildings, including cemeteries, municipalities, slaughterhouses, squares and bridges.
They were forgotten until recent years and today they are revalued. (Source)

Guaminì – Municipality building by Walter E. Kurtz @ Flickr

It’s hard to define the style of Salamone – maybe it’s a very special kind of Art Deco, influenced by Italian Futurism, maybe “monumental modernism” label suits it better. Anyway, this architect (you can read more about him on Dieselpunks.org) built a perfect setting for a Dieselpunk story, dark or bright, Ottensian or Piecraftian.

Let’s enter this strange world of municipal edifices, slaughterhouses and cemeteries.

 

Our Gallery: Postcards from Shanghai

This gallery is inspired by a discussion @ Dieselpunks.org. Just a few quotes:

Atterton: One place that seems iconic for the 30s and 40s is Shanghai. It seems to have been an interesting blend of east and west, as well as popularizing the look of women in red qipaos.

Cap’n Tony: Certainly All Things Chinese (in Western eyes), be it Shanghai or Chinatown, Mandarin Dresses and silk sport coats, Ming vases and Chinese architecture, Opium Dens and Tea Houses, or (unfortunately) Yellow Peril & Dragon Lady stereotypes, are intrinsically linked to the Diesel aestetic.

lord_k: In my eyes, 1920s-1930s Shanghai is the Dieselpunk capital of Asia – with its Deco architecture, rapid development and everything Western mixed with everything Oriental.

Komissar Hass: Personally having lived in Shanghai for some years in childhood, and having visited it last spring once more, I can say that now it gives a feel of some morbid, yet fascinating “oriental-capitalist-revolutianary-communist-mafia” dieselpunk mix simultaneously with classic cyberpunk images.

Matthew Seibel: I’d love to read a Dieselpunk story set in Shanghai… that’d rock! And we’ve got a perfect setting for the story.

 

Our Gallery: Before It All Began

OK, now we know when the Diesel Era starts – on November 12, 1918, right after the Armistice. The date is agreed, so let us prepare for the International Dieselpunk Day!

But the date doesn’t mean we cannot look into earlier period for inspiration and information. Here is a gallery – the first in a row of three or four, – inspired by various discussions on dieselpunks.org. With (almost) no weapons, automobiles and aircraft. Just some useful devices and a touch of style.

If 1900s and 1910s are claimed by Steampunk, Dieselpunk can also lay a claim. Actually, it is possible to build a 100 per cent dieselpunk setting from technologies and artifacts available before 1920 or even 1914. First of all, diesel engine is here since 1897.

A perfect example of the stationary diesel engine built in 1915 in Graz, Austria-Hungary. We have to wait until 1923 when a diesel will be put in a truck but the first diesel motor vessels were commissioned in 1903 in Russia and France, and only a year later the French Navy had its first diesel submarine. By the way, do you know what was the first ocean-going surface ship fitted with a diesel?

 

Our Gallery: Streamline is Dieselpunk

How do you like your dieselpunk – brutal, greasy and all-riveted or sleek, polished and shiny? No matter. Most probably, it will be served streamlined. Beautiful curves, shaped in wind tunnel, go well with any device of your choice – from express train to desktop radio.

1934 Chrysler Airflow and Union Pacific M-10000 'City of Salina' train

This picture was taken in 1934. First US-designed streamline passenger car and one of the first streamline articulated trains together. Both were inspired by aeronautical technologies. First and foremost, by airships – what could be more streamlined?

 

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