”The Widow’s Jar” automaton by Thomas Kuntz

Check out the latest automaton by Thomas Kuntz! A dark humor is featured in this automaton, which is titled The Widow's Jar. This hand-made edition of six is influenced by Gothic Horror and Film Noir. Exceptional work!

See more automata by Thomas Kuntz on his web site.

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Amazing gallery exhibition of contemporary fine art automata in San Francisco

Artwork by Tom Haney

I am thrilled to tell you about an upcoming show at Heron Arts titled Perpetual Motion: Contemporary Interpretations of Fine Art Automata.

It is hard to believe, but this will be among the first gallery exhibition of contemporary fine art automata in the United States.  The group show features eleven well known kinetic sculpture artists.

From the press release:

Curated by Heron Arts director Noah Antieau and Atlanta-based automata artist Tom Haney, exhibiting artists were chosen based on their craftsmanship and lifetime dedication to this artistic medium. Exhibiting artists include: David Archer (AUS), Chris Fitch (USA), Nemo Gould (USA), Tom Haney (USA), Thomas Kuntz (USA), Pat Keck (USA), Richard Landon (USA), Paul Spooner (UK), and husband and wife collaborators Dean Lucker and Ann Wood (USA).

Now THAT is an impressive list of names! You will not want to miss this one.

Here is a nice article about the show that was recently released by SF Station. Here is a recent blog post about the show by Tom Haney.

What:
Perpetual Motion: Contemporary Interpretations of Fine Art Automata

Where:
Heron Arts
7 Heron St, SF, CA 94103

When:
Opens on April 16th, 2016 with a reception from 6-9pm and runs through May 14th, 2016

Gallery Hours: Wednesday through Saturday 3-7pm and by appointment

Website Info:
heronarts.com

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AutomataCon - Event for automata artists and enthusiasts a huge success

The first automaton-themed convention, AutomataCon, took place last weekend in Morristown, New Jersey. The event brought together hundreds of artists, collectors, historians, educators, and enthusiasts of automata and other forms of kinetic art. I haven't been to many conventions, but I can say that this one was truly great.

The two day event was held at the lovely the Morris Museum in Morristown, New Jersey. If you haven't visited the museum you might wonder why the convention was held there. The reason is straightforward and compelling: it is home to the Murtogh D. Guinness Collection of Mechanical Musical Instruments and Automata -- one of the largest and important collections of its kind. Attendees could view the collection throughout the course of the event.

The stated goal of the convention was to gather people from around the world to share ideas, build relationships, and grow interest in automata new and old. In my personal experience, that is precisely what happened. There was a lot of energy all around as people met one another and shared projects, knowledge, and ideas.

The convention programming was outstanding, with two parallel tracks which ensured that there was something for people with different interests and experience levels. I was pleased to be part of two panel discussions. The first was a question and answer session with modern artists who included Tom Haney, Thomas Kuntz, Steve Armstrong, and Cecilia Schiller. The second panel was on the use of horological tools and techniques for making automata. This panel included Brittany Nicole Cox, Thomas Kuntz, and David Lindow. I am honored to have sat beside each and every one of these panelists. Other presentations at the conference included a rare film and talks on restoration, history, magic, and the making of automata.

The event included some very big names from many fields and universal enthusiasm. It was a unique, educational, and inspiring event. I would do it all over again in a hearbeat. Hats off to event founder Brett King for his good work. Thanks to Jere Ryder and the Morris Museum for being key partners is this extraordinary event. Thanks also to the panelists who made the event so fun and informative. Finally, thank you to everyone who attended. You made the event great.

If you want to share an experience from AutomataCon, I encourage you to leave a comment below.

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Photo tour of the eccentric laboratory of automaton artist Thomas Kuntz

Check out this amazing photo tour of the studio of automaton-maker Thomas Kuntz. In the photos, we see his fantastic sculptures, extensive collection of horological machine tools, and various macabre collections.

From the article summary:

Each Automata is made in editions of 3 or 4 at most. They breathe,drink, smoke and move- all through clockwork that Thomas creates himself. Every piece from start to finish comes from his wonderfully dark and twisty mind.

The complete article can be found the LA Weekly under the title "The Strange Automata Laboratory of Thomas Kuntz @ ARTOMIC Studios".

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"Topsy Curvy" automaton by Thomas Kuntz

Check out this new limited edition automaton by Thomas Kuntz titled "Topsy Curvy". Though it's a simple one compared to much of his work, the sculpting is -- as always -- second to none. As the description says, the peice "embodies the sensibilities of the surreal and the noir".

See more automata by Thomas Kuntz on his web site.

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Automaton-making by master artist and machinist Thomas Kuntz

Thomas Kuntz and his incredible automata have been featured on this blog many times. There is a good reason for this: he is probably the most accomplished artist working in the medium of automata. He designs, engineers, sculpts, machines, fabricates, and decorates every element of his pieces. To be good at any one of these things is a major achievement; to be good at all of them is to be a master of the craft. There are few like him, and he is sure to be remembered as one of the greats. Enjoy this short film he created showing some of what goes into making his amazing auotata.

Here is where you can learn more about automaton-maker Thomas Kuntz.

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Babylon Vampire: blood-drinking automaton by Thomas Kuntz

Check out this macabre blood drinking automaton by master automaton-maker, Thomas Kuntz. The automaton was designed, sculpted, painted, and mechanized by Thomas Kuntz. The mechanism consists of brass cams, levers and assorted components, all machined by the artist. The figure's costume was made by specialty costumer, Blake Bolger. The figure pours fresh blood from the severed head of his victim into a tankard and drinks it delightfully. Meanwhile, a headless figure drums a beat for each poor soul who came before and those doomed to follow.

See more incredible automata by Thomas Kuntz on his web site.

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Spooky Love: A Danse Macabre - automaton book by Thomas Kuntz

Check out this recent work by sculptor and automaton maker, Thomas Kuntz.The beautiful leather-bound book when opened, features a pair of well-dress skeletons dancing under the moonlit sky. The music box movement, made by the renowned Reuge company, was adapted to power the scratch-built cam and lever system that makes the skeletons dance and the moon change size. Some interesting still shots towards the end of the video show some of the artist's in-process shots.

See more automata by Thomas Kuntz on his web site.

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Room for Wonder - A film about the magical collections of Richard Garriott

This short film features the many collections of Richard Garriott de Cayeux -- video game developer, entrepreneur, and space traveler. Garriott built Britannia Manor to serve as his observatory, home, and occasionally, a giant interactive haunted house. An avid collector of amazing and unusual objects, Garriott's home could fairly be classified as a museum. In this film, magician Brad Henderson from Austin, Texas takes you through this extraordinary collection, room by room.

Among the countless wonders and secret passages, you will find a collection of historic space-related artifacts in Garriott's office, complete with one of the original Sputnik satellites. In the dungeon, you can stare in awe at the shrunken heads and vampire hunting kits. In the laboratory, you will find esoteric scientific instruments and orreries, mechanical models of the planets moving around the sun.

I know you guys will be most interested in Garriott's automata collection, featuring antiques as well works by almost all of the modern makers. The automata collection, vast as it is, can only be covered in part, but you do get to see the works of three artists who surely deserve the limelight.

First, you see Paul Spooner's inimitable wit and ingenuity play out in his Sex Change Machine and Poisoned Milk automaton. The mechanism that makes the cat's tongue seem to lap up the spilled milk is a fine example of Spooner's cleverness.

Next, you get a close-up view of the Argentinian artist Pablo Lavezzari's piece Facing a Fake Foe -- a detailed automaton-within-an-automaton depicting a knight fighting a dragon. The dragon, as it turns out, is a fake controlled by a small demon figure. The piece is also notable for its mechanically produced dragon roar sound effect.

Finally, you are shown a few of the macabre and magical automata created by Thomas Kuntz. Kuntz hand sculpts each of the figures and scratch builds the all of the mechanical elements for his pieces, often on vintage watchmaker's lathes. His autoamta seem to be the direct descendants of the most exquisite automata of centuries past. His piece titled L'Oracle du Mort is a modern masterpiece, featuring an oracle who -- with the help of two imps, the Grim Reaper, and a burst of real flame -- will answer your questions.

Amidst so many incredible automata, and artists whom I hold in the highest esteem, I'm dazed and delighted that one of my own pieces made it into the footage. A Dug North original, titled The Birthing Engine is shown and mentioned early on. I couldn't be more pleased.

This film is rare look at one of the finest collections of contemporary automata in existence. I am glad it was made and I am glad to have had the chance to share it with you.

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"The Last Prussian Conjurer " automaton magician by Thomas Kuntz

Sculptor and automaton artist, Thomas Kuntz, has just finished a new piece called The Last Prussian Conjurer. Like many of his pieces, this one performs a magic trick. Keep your eye on the ball!

From the artist's description:

Inspired in part by WW1 anti-war and allied propaganda art. Additional inspiration came from the Diableries/Totentanz traditions with a healthy dose of Dada, Hans Richter and Monty Python!

Kuntz is both a masterful sculptor and accomplished machinist. This means that everything in the piece was made from scratch -- the figure, brass cams, levers and all. Even the spike on the Prussian's helmet was made from brass turned on an antique precision watchmaker's lathe. A part of the cam making process is shown in the video, as is his fantastic original clay sculpture.

Propaganda art can be so exaggerated and direct in its message. I can see why it might inspire an automaton. To see what I mean, check out these books and posters showing WWI propaganda art.

See more automata by Thomas Kuntz on his web site.

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Ghost illusion automaton by Thomas Kuntz titled "Moonlight Sonata"

This automaton by Thomas Kuntz features a miniature ghost illusion using two automaton figures. When the hand-crank is turned a music box is heard. A figure plays the organ and turns his head occasionally to reveal a macabre visage. A ghost playing the violin appears, then disappears and a flower spontaneously rises from the vase.

More about the automaton from Thomas Kuntz:

The mechanism is hand cranked and machined from solid brass steel and other metals all very tightly organized into the rather small cabinet. Visual foreshortening and special painting techniques give the impression that the box is much deeper than it actually is.

As is typical of Thomas Kuntz, all of the sculpting, machining, painting, ornamental details and model work are his own. The video shows us some incredible shots of the exposed mechanism in operation. The beautifully crafted brass machine looks like the fine historical examples of automata. It's a comfort to know that someone is still making such masterful automata in this way.

See more automata by Thomas Kuntz on his web site.

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Artists speak about the mystery and motion of automata

This is the third video segment from the special feature included on the Blu-ray release of the movie Hugo. I had the pleasure of being interviewed for the feature which is titled The Mechanical Man and the Heart of Hugo. In this clip, I say a few words about the questions that automata raise in our minds. Other speakers in the clip include Martin Scorsese himself and artist Thomas Kuntz, whose incredible automaton art is also shown in various moments in the clip.

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"The Great Kundalini" - levitation automaton

Here's a real treat: the inner workings of a magic-themed automaton machined, engineered, sculpted, and painted by the amazing Thomas Kuntz. The works of the automaton are constructed of brass, which includes the cams that control the motions of the figures via a complex system of levers wires and pulleys. The scene depicts the levitation of a woman, performed by a macabre magician.

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Chameleon Chronicles automaton by Thomas Kuntz

Here's yet another amazing automaton by Thomas Kuntz call The Chamelion Chronicles.

From the YouTube description:

This piece was a Commissioned automaton box for Ron Grant, author of the forthcoming beautifully illustrated children's book The Chameleon Chronicles. Absent from this clip are the 22 hand-painted Eggs (each corresponding to a Taro card) painstakingly painted by Luba Mittelman, an excellent illuminated manuscript artist. The book itself which is still in the process of production/binding is also missing in these clips ... in its place for demonstrative purposes in this clip is John Dee's a True and Faithful book. The piece has 16 different functions and is completely mechanically cam and lever driven with the aid of chains pulleys and linkages. Additionally (but not shown ) the dragon smokes with incense which is placed in his body through a door in the back. The piece is about three feet all with figures in roughly 1/9 scale. The footage was shot VERY quickly in less than 20 minutes before the frieght truck picked it up and took it to its owner in Texas!...Still the basic functions are shown.

I am always blown away by the work of Thomas Kuntz -- a modern master of the venerable art of automata.

See more automata by Thomas J. Kuntz on his web site.

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Ghost illusion automaton by Thomas Kuntz

Another masterpiece by Thomas Kuntz! Watch the video and read about the work that went into this automaton. There is a reason he is probably my favorite of all living automata makers.

From the video describing the automaton:

The French poet and notorious absinthe drinker Paul Verlaine sits in the late night Parisian cafe sipping his "Humble Ephemeral absinthe". No words flow from his quill. It's nearing closing hour and through his blurred vision the Green Muse appears to him offering inspiration and a kiss...

As he begins writing, a cool breeze is felt and the image of his dead friend Arthur Rimbaud appears seated next to him, but its not possible he died years before from an abscessed leg! A last sip of absinthe peels the face away from the apparition revealing a smiling death's head. He knows his bitterness and loneliness will soon be put to rest in a final slumber...

Thia automaton represents 5 months worth of development. Just from a sculptural standpoint it required making over 27 sculptural pieces from scratch including the four main characters each based on real people . The debauched, albeit groundbreaking poets Paul Verlaine Arthur Rimbaud, "The green Fairy" (modeled after Blake Bolger), and last but not least Bi bi- La -Puree (who stands outside and cues the show) resplendent in his ragged clothing, musketeer hat and stolen umbrella.

From the technical side this automaton was difficult to do in small scale (roughly 1/12 scale on the interior figures) all the movements are stored on brass cams, 12 of them just for the main movements; heads, arms, bodies etc. and other mechanisms, gears springs levers etc, to control various systems. These cams we're worked out in wood before hand machining them to the final form. The illusion works on the Pepper's ghost principle, a staple in the grand era of magic and showmanship. The Sculpture, mechanical design, engineering, painting, etc. are all the work of Thomas J. Kuntz.

See more automata by Thomas Kuntz on his web site.

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The Turk chess playing automaton sculpture

Thomas Kuntz is a Los Angeles-based sculptor who builds automata and other magical pieces. Here is a static sculpture by Thomas Kuntz of the infamous chess playing automaton that was known as "The TURK". Limited to only 25 world wide, this one currently on ebay is number 20 of 25.

About The Turk sculpture:

This amazing and beautiful hand-finished sculpture is an incredibly detailed jewel of a piece, it has been meticulously cast in a special hybrid resin with some turned metal parts of brass and accents in steel. It sits on a luxurious velvet oval base atop a solid marble base. Only three of the edition have this special base which also has the maker's badge on the back marked "Thomas J. Kuntz USA". The hours needed to finish this piece, about 48-60 hours of time not counting the time it took to sculpt the original and tool the molds! Please see the photos of the micro handle components being made on the watchmakers lathe. The whole cabinet is only 4" in width! This sculpture has ended up in some very interesting and important collections collections.

Here is the full ebay listing with a number of photographs of The Turk, chess playing automaton sculpture.

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"FAKIR" magician automaton by Thomas Kuntz

Another masterful magician automaton from Thomas Kuntz!

From the video description:

This video shows the presentation and some construction highlights of a magical automaton. This piece, an original sculpture by Thomas Kuntz portrays the exotic albeit "dead" Fakir, performing a peculiar cups and balls routine ending in regurgitation. The mechanism needed to be extremely precise to produce the desired result. It was constructed of solid brass the cams acting on levers were cut by hand... all other mechanical components were custom machined metal as well either brass or steel. To allow the operator the ultimate control over speed and stop/ starts there is NO electricity on this piece, all functions are purely mechanical, cams levers gears linkages and a very unusual bent pitch sound device also controlled by a cam that emits a sitar kind of sound over the hum of a ratchet/pawl assembly that also serves the purpose of protecting the machine if the operator turns the crank in the wrong direction. The case is custom made too from solid oak and the mechanism can be viewed from a door at the back.

See more magic automata by Thomas Kuntz on his web site.

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Death+Resurrection: In the Chamber of Reflection

Marvel at Thomas Kuntz's self-portrait based on a classic automata motif: the severed and restored head. The entire piece -- including the cams, levers, and actuating devices -- were hand-cut from brass, steel, and wood.

From the video description

This automaton, a nightmarish vision, was inspired in part by the 19th century Phalibois clown automaton. The first version was sold to a private collector and then this 23" tall automaton was made from a completely new set of sculptures with some added features and a completely new mechanical design. It is an auto-biographical self-portrait told through occult allegory and runs for one minute to complete the cycle.

See more amazing art by Thomas Kuntz on his web site.

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Chameleon Chronicles automaton by Thomas Kuntz

Another beautiful piece by Thomas Kuntz. The mechanical sophistication, multi-disciplinary artistry, attention to detail, and ability to create a complex, but cohesive whole are all things that make me want to apprentice to this man I consider to be a modern master of a automata.

Thomas Kuntz on 'Chameleon Chronicles':

The piece has 16 different functions and is completely mechanically cam and lever driven with the aid of chains pulleys and linkages,additionally (but not shown ) the dragon smokes with incense which is placed in his body through a door in the back . The piece is about three feet all with figures in roughly 1/9 scale.

See more of Thomas Kuntz's automata at Artomic.com.

Alchemyst's Clocktower - Automaton by T. Kuntz

There is a reason Thomas Kuntz is one of my very favorite automata artists. Just watch this video to see why.

The artist on 'The Alchemyst's Clocktower':

This particular show is called "Pillars" It took many years to realize this automaton and care was used to make the advanced technology below stage adaptable in the future while keeping the figure itself purely mechanical.The Alchemyst is only 12" tall and consists of hundreds of hand machined brass and steel spieces.The tower itself was built from scratch out of wood, steel brass and fabric and just about any other high quality material where needed.

Visit the Artomic Design Studio web site for more works by Thomas Kuntz.

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