Every so often you come across a piece of artwork that is both cool and disturbing at the same time, and this Steampunk skull definitely qualifies. The artist Lisa Black came up with this piece, which she titled ‘Departed.’ If you’re wondering, Yes! the skull is real. It’s a monkey skull combined with various components that came from watches and other clocks as well. If you’ve been a Walyou reader for awhile now, you’ve likely seen steampunk animals in the past like this steampunk cheetah. A similar concept, really, if a bit more realistic by using actual animal parts via taxidermy than just metal pieces.
If you’re familiar with Lisa Black’s work, this piece should come as no surprise. She likes to blend natural pieces such as animal parts with the Steampunk world, a strangely unique effect that comes across as fairly realistic. In the past she’s done works like a turtle shell opened up to reveal intricate mechanical pieces, aptly named ‘Fixed Turtle.’ Another work features a baby crocodile with a windup mechanism. All of these are a wonderful combination of the natural and mechanical world, even if they are a bit eerie to look at.
I’d be curious to see what such a piece would cost (other works of hers have sold in the past, but I’d wager given the intricate detail and work put into these they don’t come cheap), but it does come in it’s very own glass casing, mounted on a metal gear stand. While I think of all Black’s work the mechanical turtle is far and away my favorite, I’d love to see work like this done on a larger scale. Combining taxidermy with steampunk gear work would be particularly cool on say, a grizzly bear. If you were to go a little smaller, I’d wager a steampunk wolverine or wolf would also be pretty impressive. Not something I’d want to run into in the wastelands of the future, that’s for sure. Then again, I’d sign up to ride a bio-mechanical horse or maybe a giant tortoise…although that wouldn’t get me anywhere in a speedy fashion, now would it? Suppose you could build a mechanical beastie of your own, what would you pick?
