The Incredible Whimsical Steampunk Sculptures of Stephane Halleux.

You may not be familiar with the name Stéphane Halleux, but if you saw the Oscar-winning animated short, Mr. Hublot, you've already seen some of his work. I'd been following his talents for awhile and was thrilled with the recognition Mr. Hublot received at the 2014 Academy Awards.

Stephane crafted the main character for Mr. Hublot, whom he affectionately called "Mr. Cinema" during his construction:


It was Halleux's steampunk sculptures that caught my attention about a year ago. An incredible imagination coupled with craftsmanship, unique materials and a dose of adorable make me want to buy every single one. In the over 20 sculptures of flying soldiers, controllers, winged men, robots and vehicles shown below, you can see which ones served as the inspiration for the character. Take a close look at the finely crafted details - the leathers, metals, goggles, buttons, suitcases with plaques, working levers, spinning propellers, functioning wheels and more.



Stephane's sculptures as they appear in galleries:



Stephane has been sculpting since 2005 when he first began to create the fabulous universe he’s still developing to this day. He studied at the Saint-Luc Institute in Lièges (Belgium) before working as a model maker and coloring for the animation business.


above: in the images of Stephane with some of his pieces, you can see the scale

In addition to his sculptures, Stephane embarked on an amazing steampunk video game, The Dead Flowers Case, produced by Mando Productions in Paris, France. They were seeking funding for the game on Kickstarter last year, but the campaign was cancelled in November 2013 for reasons unknown. For updates on the status of The Dead Flowers Case, they suggest you stay up to date on the Facebook page.



Galleries that carry Stephane's work:
•Galerie Schortgen in Luxembourg
•Absolut Art Gallery in Bruges
•Galerie Ariel Sibony in Paris

images courtesy of Stephane Halleux, many taken by Muriel Theis

Stephane Halleux

Mach 1 : Match Head Sculptures by British Artist David Mach

British sculptor David Mach has been creating sculptures and installations with such unusual media as wooden match heads, coat hangers, scrabble tiles and more. A hugely inventive artist born in 1956, his pieces garner high prices at auctions and in 1998 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Arts.

Unfortunately his own website is a big disappointment in terms of navigation, images and viewability. You may feel differently, but I couldn't stand it. Fortunately, he's famous enough that I was able to find many of his pieces on Artnet, Artprice and various gallery and sculpture sites in addition to the few I got from his own site.

He is so prolific that I'm going to share some of his work with you in 2 separate posts. First, Mach 1, a few of his sculptures made from wooden matches with colored match heads.

David created his first match head sculpture in 1982 (Kinskihead, his first one, was set alight by mistake), and since then he has created dozens more. Animal heads, African mask-like heads and more. Here are a few of my favorites from his vast portfolio:

Buddha match heads:


Animal match heads:








Ethnic masks and faces match heads:








His sculptures made from wire coat hangers have been the subject of many a blog. If you haven't seen them, here are a few good examples:





The Artist:

"Being a sculptor leads everything I do. Every project I take on starts from that point. I believe that an artist must be an ideasmonger responding to all kinds of physical location, social and political environments, to materials, to processes, to timescales and budgets. I also believe that sculpture just about encompasses everything - a painting can be a sculpture, a TV ad can be a sculpture, a dance, a performance, a film, a video - all of thse kinds of art and many more can be sculpture.

When I have ideas I want to make them, and not just some of them, but all of them. As a result of that my sculpture covers a multitude of sins. I like to work in as many different materials as possible. It's no understatement to say I am a materials junkie - jumping from highly-painted realistic cast fibreglass pieces to sculpture with coathangers, to a thatched barn roof laced with fibre-optics to designs for camera obscures (or at least the buildings to house them) and layouts for parks.

Recently, collage has had a huge influence on my sculpture. I spend so much time on collage, looking at, sorting out, re-arranging, and sticking thousands of images a week that ideas for sculpture will pop into my head whole, complete with a list of materials to make them with and a take on the different environments, museums and galleries they will inhabit." -- David Mach

about the artist (source):
David Mach was born in Methil, Fife, in 1956. He studied at Duncan Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee (1974-79), and at the Royal College of Art, London (1979-82). He was made a Royal Acadamian in 1998 and is the University of Dundee's first Visiting Professor of Inspiration and Discovery.

Buy Books on David Mach Here

Come back tomorrow for Mach 2: David Mach's Myslexic, Dominatrix, Lenticular Lady and More.