The Intriguing World of Steampunk

This past Saturday I was hanging out at MAC 650 Artspace Gallery when a really interesting dude walked in. His name was Joey Marsocci and he is a Steampunk artist. Now maybe I live in an artistic bubble, but I've never heard of Steampunk art before. Mr. Marsocci was nice enough to share his art form with me and I was fucking impressed. This shit is real cool. He also brought in some of his work which kicked ass! Both the images in this blog post were done by Joey Marsocci. I actualy got to see the gun in person. Check out his site, steamgearlab.com and below is the Wikipedia deffinition of what Steampuck is. Check it out, it is pretty cool stuff and it really inspired me. I might try to work some elements of it into my new work after the Twinkies and Robots show.

Steampunk

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Steampunk is a subgenre of fantasy and speculative fiction that came into prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. The term denotes works set in an era or world where steam power is still widely used—usually the 19th century, and often set in Victorian era England—but with prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy, such as fictional technological inventions like those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, or real technological developments like the computer occurring at an earlier date. Other examples of steampunk contain alternate history-style presentations of "the path not taken" of such technology as dirigibles or analog computers; these frequently are presented in an idealized light, or a presumption of functionality.

Steampunk is often associated with cyberpunk and shares a similar fanbase and theme of rebellion, but developed as a separate movement (though both have considerable influence on each other). Apart from time period and level of technological development, the main difference between cyberpunk and steampunk is that steampunk settings usually tend to be less obviously dystopian than cyberpunk, or lack dystopian elements entirely.

Various modern utilitarian objects have been modded by individual craftpersons into a pseudo-Victorian mechanical "steampunk" style, and a number of visual and musical artists have been described as steampunk.

Later, Joe

It wonders East...and KICKS ASS!

So I Finlay got to meet one of my favorite artist in person. I didn't think it would ever freaking happen, mainly because most of the artist I'm into live in L.A. or even further like Ashley Wood who lives in Australia.

So when I Heard that Greg Simkins was going to be in NYC and have his own opening, I made the very important decision that my sorry ass needed to be there. On Saturday Carrie, Melissa, James, and Myself piled into a car raced down to NYC in the middle of one of the worst freaking storms so far this year. It was totally worth it!

I got to meet Greg and talk to him about art. He was wicked nice and totally chilled, which is crazy seeing how this was his first NYC opening. He answered all my questions about his work, and we discussed why and HOW he uses acrylic instead of oils and makes them look like oils. Fucking amazing! He was also cool with snapping a shot with me and signing my show card.

If you live in the area you need to get down to the Joshua liner Gallery and check out his work. You won't be disappointed, his amount of detail and imagery in each piece gives you something new to look every time you check out one of his pieces. The show goes from September 6 - October 4, 2008. So check it.

While I was there I got to check out anther pretty freaking kick ass artist out, David Choong Lee. He does these super realistic urban portraits on abstract backgrounds. All that is painted on old cigar, and wine boxes. Freaking cool.

I also got talk to another really nice guy who is from CT like me, Joe Capobianco. He's pretty well known Tattoo artist, that some of you may of remembered being on Miami ink. You can find him hanging now at his own shop, Hope Gallery.

On a final note...A guy walked into the opening wearing short dark blue shorts, a collared shirt, and a pale blue blazer. I looked at this strange slightly wet fellow and said to myself, "Self where do I know this guy from?" It wasn't until after the opening that I realized that it was animator Bill Plympton. Who I had met two years ago at NYC Comic Con. My buddy Josh and I talked to him for 20 minutes or so. He was nice and funny, pretty cool guy.

In closing...go check out the show. Oh yeah, I'm sorry I didn't get any photos of the hot chicks from the opening.

Later, Joe

Art Without Judges...

Hey just a quick heads-up. I have a few old pieces in the "Art Without Judges" show at the MAC 650 Gallery in Middletown CT this month. The opening is tomorrow night from 7-10. It should be a pretty good time.

I will also be unveiling one of my newest pieces..."Worm vs Slug".It's a much smaller size piece then I usually do. It is a mixed media piece. I used everything from acrylic paint to a Bic pen on it. Oh yeah ...I have to shout out a huge thanks to the extremely talented Carrie Swider for not only framing it for me but also doing a kick ass mat job on it to boot.

If you are jonesing for more new Dinunzio's, then you best be going to the Twinkies and Robots show in November at the MAC 650 Gallery. I'll Blog more about that in the near future!

Later, Joe