Our Gallery: Speed is Dieselpunk

Diesel Era was the golden age of speed records. Every new achievement instantly sparked a need to achieve more. The pace of progress was breathtaking: in 1900, 100 miles per hour sounded like science-fiction; by 1910, it was an already broken limit; in early 1920s, new sleek aircraft reached a 200mph mark; in 1930s, there were cars running at 300mph and floatplanes (yes, floatplanes!) hitting 400. Everything moved faster – not only automobiles and aeroplanes but also trains, passenger liners and warships.

On September 13, 1931, Flt Lt. George Stainforth in the Supermarine S.6B broke the world air speed record reaching 407.5 mph (655.67 km/h).

Of course, it’s not a world records list. Just a gallery for your entertainment and inspiration. But believe us, there is a lot to see!

 

Our Gallery: So Close to Reality

Today, we are proud to present Waldemar Kazak, an illustrator from Tver, Russia. Mr. Kazak is very active in the media. There are just a few dieselpunk-related works in his portfolio, but quantity doesn’t really matter: Mr. Kazak is a house name in the diesel crowd and his art is appreciated by the dieselheads all over the globe. Here are some paintings, in chronological order – from 2008, when his DeviantArt gallery was discovered by dieselpunk community, through 2012.

Monster House by Waldemar Kazak (2008)

Dystopian dieselpunk can be fun. It is possible to turn horror into a cartoon. And humor can provoke serious thoughts without being too weird or too bitter.

 

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: Found in Transition

A few months ago, we did our best to furnish your Dieselpunk setting with 1910s artifacts. Not Diesel Era yet but certainly not Steam Age. How should we call this period – Edwardian? Maybe, but King Edward VII left this world on May 6, 1910. Proto-Diesel? Too pompous. Let’s agree on a somewhat less spectacular but chronologically correct term – Transition. A bridge between two great eras, embracing old and new aesthetics and ideas.

Today, we’d like to celebrate Speed and Power. For example, the car above, the Blitzen Benz, is powered by a 21.5-litre 200hp engine. On April 23, 1911, Bob Burman – remember the guy with goggles? – piloted it to an average of 228.1 kilometres per hour (141.7 mph) over a full mile at Daytona Beach, a record that would not be surpassed until 1919.

 

Our Gallery: The Future That Never Was

Let us begin with a few quotes from donaguirre‘s gallery @ Deviantart:

Eldorado, a former colony of the Kingdom of Albion, became an independent monarchy in 1776 (“No Eldoradian King – no eldoradian taxes !”), when the King of Albion addressed the elected King of Eldorado as “mon frère” for the first time in the “Dépêche fraternelle”, which is nowadays exhibited in the N.H.City National Museum. Monarchy became constitutional with the end of the Eldoradian civil war (1861-65), when the confederate states abolished absolutism. The Kings name is Jacob ever since (the royal coat of arms reads “Iacobus Rex”), but most Eldoradians use to refer to his majesty as “Jack”.

Two Elekktra-II support airships maneuvering in the docking perimeter of Atlantis station. Elekktrae docked the MPRP on a regular base to keep both, technical installations and crew, operational. A common air force nickname for HE-II standard support vessels was “Milk Cow”, abbreviated as “MC” in radio code.

An early Elekktra class (HE-I) rigid airship entering the landing perimeter of the Westworld Testing Facility “WTF”, (sometimes called “Where The F***), also known as “the dry castle” or “napkinworx”, as the area was situated in the Western Territories’ vast desert regions and due to Citizen Hugges’ often documented habit to scribble ideas onto napkins while in a restaurant to “save them for mankind”, expecting his technical staff to bring them to fruition exactly as seen on his 30 second blueprint.

The Future That Never Was by donaguirre (2010)

…in short, a whole brave new world with its own history, folklore and humor. Sometimes dark, sometimes full of sunlight, always streamlined and uncompromisingly dieselpunk. Welcome to the Future That Never Was!

 

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: Diesel Era Giants

When we talk dieselpunk, ‘megalomania’ doesn’t sound like an obscenity or a diagnosis. The genre is inspired by the Interbellum aesthetics, and no one can argue that between two world wars size did matter, the bigger the better. In this gallery there are no abandoned projects and paper designs. Only real giants.

Let us begin with an undisputed dieselpunk icon, the airship. Not just a dirigible but a flying aircraft carrier:

Flying aircraft carrier (PopMech, May 1942)

The concept was already obsolete when this picture was published but carrier airships existed a few years before – see USS Macon and Akron.

Another nice try to increase the operating range of piston-engine aircraft: the Mayo project:

Short S20 Mayo 'Mercury' & Short Empire 'Maia' flying boat

The Short Empire Class S.21 Maia was not the largest flying boat of the period – but large and powerful enough to carry a four-engine floatplane.

 

Our Gallery: The Machines of Atlantis

Fleet review by vnetwatnik @ LJ

The Atlantic Republic project is jointly developed in Russian-speaking LiveJournal community Atlantic Republic – A Dieselpunk Legend.
In March 2010, the setting was outlined in English on Dieselpunks.org and in January 2012, a short story by Ignat Solovey was published on the same network.

The year is presumably 1934, no exact date given. The Republic is going to celebrate its Centennial – with navy review, air parade, and every kind of festivals. Of course there are pirates, spies, at least one Mad Scientist, brave sailors and aviators, femmes fatales and lady adventurers. And lots of Dieselpunk – factories and workshops, weird airplanes, flying aircraft carriers, streamlined trains, air taxicabs, destructive secret weapons, etc. etc.

The multi-faceted story of the Republic unfolds in an alternative world a bit more happier than ours, no Great Depression or Nazi threat. Nevertheless, the Modern Atlantis does everything possible (and impossible) for self-defense, hence a multitude of military machines – along with civil cars, diesel trains, airliners and mailplanes. Enjoy.

Gwook floatplane fighter pursuing a pirate aircraft