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 Crazy World of Sam Van Olffen

The Dieselpunk Encyclopedia is proud to present Sam Van Olffen, one of the greatest dieselpunk artists.
For starters, a short quote from his conversation with Tome Wilson (Dieselpunks.org, Aug. 27, 2009):

This will sound strange but I don’t think that anything comes directly from my brain. I’m just a vector, a kind of supra-physical translator. I’m not kidding. I just use information to make pictures, much as a computer makes pictures with binary language. My synapses translate data which comes from I don’t know where. That’s my role.

Another quote, from an interview published on jacksondeep.com (Oct. 8, 2010):

I’m more interested in the past as a way to understand the present and how in less than one century we all became “citizens of the age of the ephemera” as Alvin Toffler said pertinently. The lost civilizations, the great conflicts, men, discoveries, etc., whole those new quantic waves that were shaping the face of humanity. Needless to say it was more impressive than… Facebook!

There’s a lot to argue about but let’s put the argument aside. And proceed to the third interview, for the Gatehouse Gazette (#8, August 2009):

I have always wanted to create universes and characters, tell stories. I have always been attracted by science fiction and fantasy worlds, robots and monsters.I like big cities, pollution, oppressive atmospheres and everything connected with death. I like architecture and above all I like history. I let things happen. With all these elements combined you get dieselpunk. <…> You are right when you think dieselpunk fits my own style more. It is darker. Dieselpunk is the psychopathic son of steampunk.

Mask

You probably know that the art of Sam Van Olffen is often labeled as ‘steampunk’. Well, it’s easy, with all these top hats and balloons, Belle Epoque and Art Nouveau aesthetics. But the artist sees himself as a dieselpunk, expanding the genre’s limitations, crossing the borders, threading new paths. Let’s take a look:

 

Our Gallery: News from Diesel City

The world will never be the same.

Why?

The answer is simple: there’s a new book, just out of print, 200 pages capable of changing your world forever. You probably thought that Dieselpunk is about bizarre machinery, heroic aviators and cynical private detectives, movie divas and pretty flapper girls, Art Deco and Streamline Moderne aesthetics… But it’s much more than this.

Stefan Prohaczka, the author, calls himself a “diesel powered artist”.  We believe it is an understatement: a man responsible for a score of Dieselpunk masterpieces should be called a pillar of the genre. Three years ago he joined the Diesel crowd and since then contributed a lot to various projects, from Dieselpunks Network to our Encyclopedia (see the emblem). After a salvo of pictorial series, covers and stand-alone posters here comes a ‘black box’ containing not only familiar images but also some information – finally deciphered.

 

Our Gallery: Jon Hall’s Air Power

We are proud to present the creations of Jon Hall, an outstanding dieselpunk aircraft designer who builds amazing flying machines using LEGO plastic bricks. His work is highly acclaimed by both LEGO enthusiasts and dieselheads all over the world.

Mr. Hall wrote in his Flickr profile:

“I’m a thirtysomething graphic designer ( and ex- computer game artist, and ex- film and tv animator, and all round geek ). I live in London with my girlfriend and my 2 sons. I’m currently working at book publisher Dorling Kindersley’s Licensing department where I work with companies such as Pixar, Lego, Marvel, Lucasfilm and Disney to produce books based on their films and comics etc.”

“When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.” Leonardo Da Vinci

Here is a small selection of his aircraft, created in 2009-2012, with some comments from the author:

Savoia S-21
A Lego model I made of Porco’s seaplane from the Studio Ghibli film ‘Porco Rosso’

 

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