I’m nearly always the last to know, particularly in trends. Some might say this is because I am from North Dakota.
Well, fine.
Anyway, a friend emailed me today, and haphazardly mentioned “steampunk” in the email, noting a conference in Seattle in October. Within 20 minutes of crazed internet searching, I sat agape at the fact that I had been so clueless for so long, and at the very cool stuff people are making. It reminded me of a book I had as a child, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which featured the infamous car and wonderful things like goggles and wafting flight scarves and crazy trunks and strange striped fabric wings. I finally learned why I am fascinated with the following movies/TV shows, at last having a name for what I was seeing:
- Warehouse 13 gadgets (had I read this, I would have understood sooner)
- The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (the movie, which was stupid, but had great visuals and props)
- City of Ember
- Wild Wild West (stupid movie, very cool stuff)
- Etc.
I am, of course, a friend of Jules Verne.
Sort of.
My sisters call me Vern because of Jules Verne, with me using “julesvern” as my internet handle for many web sites. I read his books when I was growing up, and still have have a penchant for books of that era. These are my credentials!
Well, fine.
North Dakota.
Anyway, I like the look.
It’s all sort of like H.R. Giger’s intertwining horror vacui art, except without the death, bones, and serious skin-crawling factor. Or, as I mentioned to my friend Troy1 in an email today, it reminds me of some of the H.P. Lovecraft stuff. You know, the old typewriter keys, brass trunks, ephemera, cogs, mystery…
True devotees to steampunk would most likely desire to beat me since I’m so uniformed and several decades late to what is likely a waning game. Nevertheless, just because I didn’t know the name of what I liked, doesn’t mean I didn’t like it.
A few years ago I did some bookplate sketches which feature cogs and machine imagery. Alas, I can only locate one of the images, but you may certainly have it for free if you’d like. Just click on the image for the larger JPEG version. (For personal, non-commercial use only.)
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1Read my interview with Troy here.
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Nice bookplate sketch.
An archive search for “retro” at makezine.com turned up a few amazing steampunk related projects and links on page 3. Also on the page is a video of a piece by Nemo Gould and pics of some works of French sculptor Stéphane Halleux. Tres cool.
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/retro/?p=3
Very cool, Les! …You know it’s puzzled me why the steampunk aesthetic has such an appeal. I mean, I love it, but why…? And it dawns on me in today’s age when so many things are mass produced, miniaturized, compartmentalized, and (I cry) disposable, Steampunk gear and contraptions seem so unique, artful (reflecting each creator’s design sense), fixable and fashioned for human use. I do feel in a sincere way, the pendulum of technical aesthetics are swinging from the impersonal boxes of the recent massed produced items, back to a more individualized, artistic expression of the user–or the devices creator–and design uniqueness will be in vogue very soon. It could be a beautiful time for artists, creators/designers, and the technically minded. –Thankfully, many people are just like that already.
Yep, you’re a bit late to the steampunk parade, which I also enjoy (but then again, my favorite style of art is art nouveau, so there you have it).
You really need to google “steampunk star wars” for maximum effect.
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