10 Dieselpunk Robot Art
Retro-Machines Series
ORIGINAL LIMITED EDITION PRINTS
Yute and Tocuyo’s Imachinarium
Dieselpunk Mammoth whale – Digital print on archival paper,594mm X 841mm, edition of 10
The retro flying mammoth whale is a huge dieselpunk robot machine designed and built by Yute (front sit) and Tocuyo (directing its tail for direction) to fly long extensions of the Imachinarium’s territory. Yute and Tocuyo’s work was initially powered by diesel energy, but because of its limited production and the need of a longer life extension, this machine migrated to an atomic source: the emoji-bombs.
“The Retro-Orion dieselpunk Mechamorph”
Digital print on archival paper,420mm X 594mm, edition of 20
This massive robot is inspired in a Custer, from the Orion transportation line in Peru’s chaotic public transportation systems. The Retro Orion is commanded by the terrible and lunatic Atomic Rabbit, the agent of mischief and chaos in Yute and Tocuyo’s Imachinarium.
The Atomic Rabbit is crazy as Batman’s Joker, but although he seems irrational, there is a method to his madness, and he has an ulterior plan. Do not take him lightly. The Retro Orion, its influenced by the Optimus Prime character from the Transformers TV show, and current (awful) movies.
“The dieselpunk Retro byke Mechamorph”
Digital print on archival paper,420mm X 594mm, edition of 20
The Retro-Byke, it’s a fast defensive robot, created in Yute and Tocuyos workshop to face the menace of an atomic catastrophe. He will have to fight and one point the super strong mechamorph, the Retro-Orion. This dieselpunk robot wont be able to hold the blows of the gargantuan monster, but provides them with enough strength and power to escape their workshop unharmed.
“Tocuyo Dieselpunk robot”
Digital print on archival paper,297mm X 420mm, edition of 40
Tocuyo, he is the doer, the mechanic, the test driver and also the artist. He does not speak but only for two words: “The light” That’s all he says. He talks more through his actions, his constructions, and his continuous paintings of emojis.
The emojis are his trademark and signature. Every machine in which he has intervened and built, has an emoji on it.
“Dieselpunk Flying Retro Whale”
Digital print on archival paper, 297mm X 420mm, edition of 40
The flying retro whale was one of the first art I did on these diesel punk universe. At this point, I was thinking more about steampunk as an aesthetic, but that did not make much sense as the world of Yute and Tocuyo developed. Steampunk speaks to me more about progress. It reflects an optimistic vision of the future, where machines powered by steam roamed the world. But the Imachinarium is a world of junk and waste. Its the world of today completely destroyed by a probable nuclear holocaust that ended humanity. Its a friendlier version of the the world of Mad Max. It will naturally evolve from its steampunk roots, to the dirtier dieselpunk reality.
“The Retro-truck Dieselpunk mechamorph”
Digital print on archival paper,420mm X 594mm, edition of 20
The “volquete” its a classical truck that you’ll find all around the country. It circulates on top of whichever street it needs to go to carry its load. Yute and Tocuyo have built this powerful mechamorph from the scraps of thousands of pieces of “volquetes” al around the Imachinarium to help them move the trash out of their workshop.
“The dieselpunk Retro Plane mechamorph”
Digital print on archival paper,420mm X 594mm, edition of 20
The Retro Plane was the first of the diesel punk mechamorph machines, inspired in the classical Japanese manga and anime, Macross, named in my country as Robotech. You can see references to the VF-1 Valkyries which was, and probably is my favorite mecha together with Robocop’s ED-209, designed by Craig Haynes back in 1987.
There is an 80s look to the machine, where robots looked more like tanks, than the slick design of an evolved iPhone.
“Yute Dieselpunk robot”
Digital print on archival paper,297mm X 420mm, edition of 40
Yute, he is the thinker, the architect, the designer. He imagines fantastic machines that are built from trash and waste, and needs the powerful hands and courage of his dearest friend Tocuyo, to build them and test them.
His hidden and deepest wish is that he could become courageous enough to test drive one of his inventions. But to achieve that, Yute needs to engage in profound personal voyage.
“Dieselpunk retro-lighthouse”
Digital print on archival paper,297mm X 420mm, edition of 40
The Retro-Lighthouse serves as a powerful beacon the let Yute and Tocuyo know how to get back home. It was built when they created their first dieselpunk mech for long range traveling. At that point, they did not have the Mechanic Turtles, Retro-map with them so it was difficult to get back home, to their resourceful workshop of wast and junk.
Digital print on archival paper,297mm X 420mm, edition of 40
This dieselpunk super engine vehicle was designed and built by the two characters to test velocity and acceleration in the Imachinarium. As Yute is obsessed with numbers and Tocuyo obsessed with speed, both made from the junk around to test their obsessions. The result: They went from 0 to 100km/h and 5.5 seconds.
“Yute in his Dieselpunk flying exo-suit”
Digital print on archival paper,420mm X 594mm, edition of 20.
This suit has powerful meaning in Yute and Tocuyo’s mythology. The story starts with Yute standing on the jumping platform, and almost ends in the same space. Will he jump at the end of the his archetypal journey? Has he changed as a character?
“Dieselpunk flying whale stadium”
Digital print on archival paper,420mm X 594mm, edition of 20
Super diesepunk machine, inspired in Barcelona’s famous soccer stadium, the Camp Nou. This has to do with my family roots on my mothers side, which come from Gaudi’s and Miro’s magical city. The super flying whale runs on diesel, but will soon need to be upgraded to the Emojibombs energy source, more efficient and longer lasting. Its a nice piece, created for a dear uncle who has been always super supportive of Yute and Tocuyo’s universe.
“Dieselpunk Retro lion Mechamorph”
Digital print on archival paper,420mm X 594mm, edition of 20
The Dieselpunk Lion Mechamorph its inspired in the Chinese traditional dance lion used by Shaolin martial artists mixed with dieselpunk aesthetics of Yute and Tocuyo Imachinarium. As many of the characters creations, they are used as camouflages to blend between other similar super robots and deactivate dangerous explosive devises put in place by the Atomic Rabbit. The technique uses mixed media, where I blended digital art with traditional drawing.
“Dieselpunk Retro Bull Mechamorph”
Digital print on archival paper,420mm X 594mm, edition of 20
The Retro-bull dieselpunk Mechamorph, one of my best seller drawings and sculptures. There is something magical about the bull, an animal of strength, courage, fertility but also nobility. Its a good archetype of masculinity. Yute and Tocuyo must build a dieselpunk retro-bull to blend inside the world of other mechanical bulls, and deactivate a powerful, out of control emojibomb. This piece is mixed media, combining hand drawing and digital technology. My weapon of choice: pencils, a good scanner, and Photoshop.
“Dieselpunk retro infinitum machine”
Digital print on archival paper, A4 size, edition of 2000
The retro dieselpunk infinitum machine. This project was not part of the original works in the character’s odyssey, but instead a request of a client who is obsessed with time and efficiency. Hence I came up with the “infinitum” machine that creates time in the Imachinarium, or at least a little bit of extra time. Its a machine against the retro entropy, and unstoppable force the breaks everything apart. The machine makes hours go slower for a brief moment, as it distorts shortly the fabric of the space-time continuum. The work here was al digital, with a cloning tool inside Photoshop. I’ll replicate pieces of the drawing creating new shapes and forms.
“Millenium Huascar Flying Machine”
Digital print on archival paper, A2 and A1 size, 2022
The Millenium Huascar, or HSR.0130 its a super spaceship built by Yute and Tocuyo to fly around their world, the Imachinarium. This is a hybrid diesel-atomic vehicle. As a diesel punk machine its powered up initially by diesel fuel to start the atomic accelerometer, and then by an atomic bomb, the classical “fatman” converted to a nuclear powered engine. Slowly but surely Yute and Tocuyo realize that they have change their source to nuclear as the diesel resource around the Imachinarium starts to run out quickly. Hence the concept of the art and the project, migrates from a diesel punk aesthetic to an atomic punk aesthetic. The HSCR draws and obvious inspiration from Star War’s Millenium Falcon, some elements of the Matrix’s Nabucodonosor, but mostly from a mythical Peruvian war ship, the Monitor Huascar commanded by another mythical heroical Peruvian, Miguel Grau.
“The Retro Toro Condor”
Digital Artistic Print, A2 size, limited edition of 20 reproductions.
This Mechamorph, half dieselpunk, half atomic punk robot is inspired by an Andean tradition and celebration from the colonial and post-colonial era called the “Yahuarfiesta” in which a condor is attached to a bull and thrown into a bullfight where the large bird, a representation of the Andean culture and god, an APU, inflicts terrible pain on the bull, a metaphor for the established powers, the Spanish conquistadors, the white men, the large landowner, the “Misti”. This celebration is a symbol of the eternal conflicts between oppressed and oppressors, of colonialism extended through time, in different forms until today. My proposal for this Dieselpunk robot, of this “mechamorph” built by Yute and Tocuyo in their Imachinarium, is to re-think the conflict as an opportunity for growth. The condor becomes the wings of a powerful tank-like creature that has to confront a tremendous rival. Strength and grace come together, land and earth become invincible. But who is this rival? That is yet to be written in another chapter of “Yute and Tocuyo’s Imachinarium”. The art has become a 3D printed sculpture that I will share on the next section focused on sculpture art. Check it out.
Dieselpunk Robot Art II
Retro-Machines Series
SCULPTURES
Yute and Tocuyo’s Imachinarium
“Dieselpunk Retro Moto taxi”
Mixed media sculpture in metal and painting
I just love when clients and collectors challenge you with new projects. This was one of them: The dieselpunk retro-moto taxi, a mecha robot, or “mechamorph” made in tribute to one of the most popular transportation vehicles, the torito bajaj. The sculpture is 80cms tall, made of metal and multiple pieces of junk. This mechamorph will spawn a couple of year later its larger, super beast version, AR-Torito, a 5 meter tall monster robot made completely from trash, and from a real life mototaxi. Check the video of its production here.
“Dieselpunk Retro Doctor”
Mixed media sculpture in metal and painting
The Retro Doctor is a mechanical disguise, a camouflage used by both characters to blend in the Retro Bureaucrat office which should provide them with the correct documentation to ask the question: WHO AM I, WHERE DO I COME FROM, AND WHY DO I BUILD THIS MACHINES. They create this identity, standing one on top of the other, which, when I see it is pretty symbolical. Tocuyo is the builder, and Yute is the thinker, but he thinks too much and does little. Tocuyo, the doer aspect of the duality, is repressed to the bottom, and his creating capabilities are limited. This works as a metaphor of my time as a lawyer, when rationality was primordial, and emotions, passions, feeling, truth, was repressed. Truth was repressed by rationality.
“Dieselpunk Jumping Suit”
Mixed media sculpture in metal and painting
Tocuyo, he is the doer, the mechanic, the test driver and also the artist. He does not speak but only for two words: “The light” That’s all he says. He talks more through his actions, his constructions, and his continuous paintings of emojis.
The emojis are his trademark and signature. Every machine in which he has intervened and built, has an emoji on it.
“Dieselpunk Flying Gold Fish Machine “
Mixed media sculpture in metal and painting
The dieselpunk Flying Goldfish vehicle is designed by Yute and Tocuyo to travel short distances but a really high speed. Its motor is super close to the source of energy, one dieselpunk emojibomb, so its explosiveness and acceleration are notable. The sculpture is made of metal, leather, resin, 3D printed pieces, and a wooden base.
“Giant Dieselpunk Retro Moto taxi”
Mixed media sculpture in metal and painting
The Giant Dieselpunk Robot Moto Taxi its a five meter tall super mechamorph bot built from the remains of a Bajaj Tuk Tuk vehicle and multiple pieces and auto parts found in the valley of trash, near Yute and Tocuyo’s workshop. The two small robots created this mech to fight the evil Retro Colossus which menasses with the destruction of the Imachinarium.
“The Atomic Panda”
Mixed media sculpture, vinyl, metal and acrylic painting
The Atomic Panda, he is one of the main dieselpunk characters of the Imachinarium. He looses a leg in a confrontation with the Atomic Rabbit, who attacked him treacherously and pulled it off. During the beginning of their Odyssey in the Imachinarium, Yute and Tocuyo found him helped him with a new, retro dieselpunk leg. The Panda led them to the Retro Turtle, one of the wisest and most ancient beings of the Imachinarium.
“Tocuyo Dieselpunk Jumping Suit”
Mixed media sculpture.
Tocuyo, is here in his retro dieselpunk jumping suite, a mixed media sculpture which allows him to jump enormous distances through the junk mountains of the Imachinarium.
“The Retro-bull.01”
Mixed Media Sculpture
The Retro Bull is a dieselpunk armored vehicle designed to retrieve Atomic Bombs from the Imachinarium in order to transform them in emoji bombs, Yute and Tocuyo’s favorite energy source. The sculpture is made from resin, leather, metal, and acrylic drawings. The bull is an animal of nobility and strength.
“The Retro-bull.02”
Mixed Media Sculpture
The Retro Bull is a dieselpunk armored vehicle designed to retrieve Atomic Bombs from the Imachinarium in order to transform them in emoji bombs, Yute and Tocuyo’s favorite energy source. The sculpture is made from resin, plastic, leather, metal, and acrylic drawings. The bull is an animal of nobility and strength.
The pieces come from different recycled material, one of the most curious, a snow skying boot.
“Dieselpunk flying trash carrier robot”
Mixed media sculpture in metal and painting
The Dieselpunk Trash Carrier Vehicle its designed to transport valuable trash from all around the Imachinarium to build mechamorphs for their multiple adventures. The sculpture is built from metal, resina, 3D printed material, leather and a wooden base.
“Dieselpunk Retro Robot Rooster”
Mixed media sculpture in metal and painting
The dieselpunk retro robot rooster runs at incredible speed and jumps at great heights. As in almost all of the robots built by these two characters, its used the trash and junk of its world to give birth to a new, powerful creation. The actual sculpture was bought by a restaurant in Lima Peru, and is currently a very important part of its decorations.