Amazing Steampunk Fish Sculpture on eBay

[Madame Curatrix]

I randomly stumbled across this glorious bit of pottery steampunkness on eBay. Brilliant!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Steampunk-Raku-Monster-Fish-Face-Jug-Pottery-folk-art-horses-ooak-Grafton-/250934019451?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a6cd5457b

I confess I've never seen much in the way of steampunk pottery before. The artist did a great job of capturing the look of old rusty metal, though.

[Armored Rah]

The overall look of it is very nice, but when you focus on it in parts, instead of as a whole, it isn't quite as nice. The body of the fish is handmade, probably from sculpy, but everything else seems to be salvaged from cheap toys. The horses, wheels and cowboys are from a Dollar store "stagecoach playset" and there are also some random toy motorcycle parts. As far as "ART", it's great, but based on how high the bids are, I'm thinking someone will be very disappointed when they find out what this is really made of. Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking it. Like I said, it looks nice, but IMO, things are only as good as the parts they are made from and this is made from some very cheap items, no matter how good it looks.

[polyphemus]

I feel that the horses could easily be dispensed with. They do seem to be a jarring note. Good fish though.

[Madame Curatrix]

The body of the fish is handmade, probably from sculpy,

Actually if you look at it closely most of the body of the fish is made from individually crafted pieces of pottery/clay, possibly of the stoneware variety, with kiln-fired art glazes; not sculpy.

[Armored Rah]

You may be right about the glazes, but the smokestacks have the same colors/finishes, but only the tops possibly look to be made of a clay substance. There are some rather good metalic paints now and I was thinking that's all it was. Still, be it clay/pottery or sculpy, IMO, it's still being held back by the cheap plastic parts, not the handmade parts.

After looking over the artist's site, I have to say, this item is not a good example of his work. Everything else on his site looks much better than this one. All his other works look very high quality and well detailed with almost everything being hand crafted.

[MistressMagpie]

You may be right about the glazes, but the smokestacks have the same colors/finishes, but only the tops possibly look to be made of a clay substance.

Actually, some ceramic glazes can give an extremely realistic metallic appearance. High firing temperatures in a gas kiln and the raku process (which this sculpture is) can both turn out glazes that look like those used on this fish. The shapes of the 'stacks' are also consistent with pottery techniques. See how that highlight down the stacks has wobbly edges? That's no machine-made part. That's fingers on spinning clay.

As far as the art only being as good as the materials... It's easier to get a quality product with quality materials, but using plastic doesn't make this sculpture a hunk o' junk. It's very possible that this type of detail couldn't be accomplished with other materials. Most tin horses I've seen don't have that level of detail, and ceramic would be perfectly impossible at that scale-- the legs would snap right off. Plastic is extremely workable and non-brittle, as well as being available readily, at low cost, in an extraordinary array of shapes. It's a very useful material, and some types are even Of the Period. Clay is good at replicating organic shapes, and some organic textures. For the crisp, even machined-looking lines of mechanical processes (as in this fish or his locomotive-head sculpture), it doesn't make sense. Disassembling and reassembling bits and pieces of small plastic toys is a very logical way to get around the problem. And it's one that as near as I can tell, he's used in all his organic-mechanical hybrid pieces.

[Capt. Dirigible]

The body of the fish is handmade, probably from sculpy, but everything else seems to be salvaged from cheap toys. The horses, wheels and cowboys are from a Dollar store "stagecoach playset" and there are also some random toy motorcycle parts.

An idea the creator of this piece might have got from artist Kris Kuski

[Narsil]

Actually the horses and figures look like they're bronze

[MistressMagpie]

Actually the horses and figures look like they're bronze

I think they're cunningly painted plastic, but it's a damnably hard call! It's well done, if I may say so.

[bicyclebuilder]

The body of the fish is handmade, probably from sculpy, but everything else seems to be salvaged from cheap toys. The horses, wheels and cowboys are from a Dollar store "stagecoach playset" and there are also some random toy motorcycle parts.

An idea the creator of this piece might have got from artist Kris Kuski

Are those reused plastic action figures and toy soldiers under a coat of paint? It's awesome in a creepy way. It reminds me of the skull sculptures from the catacombes of Paris.

Back to topic: The fish sculpture looks good. Not very detailed and acurate, but that doesn't bother me. The use of other than natural materials doesn't bother me. The price, ah well, there is always someone who wants to pay for a peice of art.

[D.Oakes]

Used my Google-fu.  The thing I always check with myself and other artists is how easy it is to find us via Google.  

http://graftonpottery.blogspot.com/

More of her work, it looks familiar, I think I might have seen it on television once.  

Considering the weight of ceramic, I am willing to go on faith that the actually base is metal.  It wouldn't be too hard to find such a piece to use as many historical places have gift shops that sell metal toys.  

That said, I do sense some bandwagon jumping looking at her other work.  I've talked to a lot of artists who are doing that, which I'm iffy on how I feel, it depends on the intentions.

What comes to mind is the second book of Dinotopia's submersibles with horses instead of dinosaurs.  

[Madame Curatrix]

What comes to mind is the second book of Dinotopia's submersibles with horses instead of dinosaurs.  

I think you are referring to The World Beneath, by James Gurney, the creator of Dinotopia (who, incidentally, is one of my all-time art heroes).

Here's a similar illustration on his website of a fish-inspired submersible craft:

http://www.dinotopia.com/art_submersible_cutaway.html

You're quite right about the similarity. The question is whether the artist of the piece featured on this thread was exposed to Gurney's work.

[Drew P]

I'm alittle off on the comment concerning about how cheap the materials are that this is made of.
How much is a couple of tubes of oil paint,photo paper,scrap metal,etc.,etc.?  If all art had prices reflecting the material content,I'd march on down to the museum and get me a few this and thats.

That said,this could easily be a piece done by someone here. I'll admit that's it's pricey.  I question some of the prices that are asked for of some of the items that I see made by others here(just a rare few pieces I've seen in the past),but it's not my money that's being spent so...  And if someone can get a good price for their piece and the recipient is happy to part with their money-woo hoo for both parties!

-Sorry to rant-

As to the piece= it's pretty good,not my cuppa absinthe,but well done and creative.

[and_solo_said]

I like it. Not as much as some of the other stuff on their website, but I like it.

As for the price, the starting bid was only $150, which seems quite reasonable. Anything above that is what people want to pay for it, and you can hardly slate the artist for that.