Peter Szucsy, steampunk artist from Budapest, Hungary. Photography © P. Szucsy

1.Tell us what you do and your beginnings.

For the past 25 years, I have worked as an art director/lead artist in the game development industry. My experience includes successfully manage people in our company. I have made many creatures, monsters, create several world in almost all of the style in the virtual world. But few years ago I felt it is about time to create something different.

So I left my computer and made lots of my ideas come alive in the real world. The metal was quite new for me, since I graduated as illustrator it the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design. Steampunk spider sculptures… this is a perfect blend of things I like: brass, spiders, robots, victorian era industrial revolution.

Lady Lillian © Peter Szucsy

2.What are your favorite museums in the world? Why?

History of Science Museum and Galileo Museum in Florence. I can stare for hours the historical instruments, watches and tools. I am fascinated by the design of art and scientific instruments, sometimes beyond usability. Although I have to admit fragmentarily, sometimes while admiring these arts and crafts, I wonder how I could use them in my own works, what could be made of them.

But here, I have to note, I use rare expensive object parts, but I never use watch with high museal value. I’m not just an artist and art enhusiast, but also a collector. When I see something amazing in museums, I always want to bring it to my home not for reuse… just to see it every day.

3.How important are social networks in your business? And which platform do you prefer and why.

The social networks are the most important communication chanel in my business. Few decades ago, nobody thought, it is easy to show or selling art even to the other side of the world, from here from a small country. And now, I’m sitting in my studio here in Europe, and packaging my artwork, making label addressing it to Australia.

I share the pictures of my new artwork, and get the comments from America, Asia, Africa… from almost every point of the world. My most favourited social network is the Instagram, although I also use Facebook, and Twitter. I have hundreds of new follower in every day, and 30 percent of the traffic in my shop comes from those networks.

4.What are your future projects?

I have much more plan to the next years what I can realize, I’m pretty sure I will have no enough time for it. I would like to create much more species, such as mantis, moscitos, and much more. I’m working on a videoclip, and looking for the new medium an possibilities to show my art. I also would like to make some furnitures and other interesting objects.

The steampunk sculptures is just one part of me, I also create surreal and weird furniture design. This is my other future project, I’m running my art gallery, but also planning to open my other shop to my furnitures and home equipments. It is named to WobooHome. It is a dream so far, not a project, but a solo exhibition would be really great! Dear gallery managers, I’m waiting for your emails!

5.To create greater engagement among museums, artists and professionals, do you have any advice for cultural projects such as #MuseumWeek?

Much more competition would be good in some “lesser known styles”, such as steampunk, dieselpunk or junk art. Hard to make exhibition or solo exhibition in those styles. The fan community of steampunk, dieselpunk or similar style is growing rapidly, and I really believe there is a room for this style in the main stream.

Interview by Fabio Pariante, journalist

MORE

Peter Szucsy on social networks: Instagram – Twitter – Facebook Website

Peter Szucsy (Budapest, 1974) is a Hungarian artist who transforms watches, cameras and all things vintage into mechanical insects. His inspiration is the steampunk style, a modern retrofuturistic science fiction inspired by nineteenth-century fiction and fantastic history.

So in the art of the nineteenth century a stempunk object is represented by visible mechanics, because the beauty of a work was also represented by the technology highlighted to be observed in every little detail, in every gear. Thanks to Szucsy each object becomes in turn another object, a reproduced animal that preserves an ancient story in its pieces: the artist re-elaborates all this to tell the past in a current key, but with a vintage style. Peter Szucsy lives and works in Budapest.