Automatonia

About

About me:

 Well, my name is Petre Staicu and i am the creator of these mechanical jokes. I’m 42 years old and for 20 years, i live and work in Bucharest. But in this adventure, i jumped recently, no more than one year and a half ago, so that’s why i call it ”an adventure”

 Although, i’m relatively new in this line of work, my artistic background helped a little. I have more than 20 years since i work as a visual artist, a university degree as stage designer and i’m also certified as a muralist painter.

 Over the past years i worked in diferent domains of art. I worked as a set designer for theater and cinema, i designed and manufactured in general scenery for theatrical productions. More recently i worked as graphic designer, including classical and digital illustration, character design, storyboarding and the list can continue. But enough about me.

About Automatonia:

The title is based on the greek word automaton. An automaton it’s a self operating machine, one of the earliest form of mechanical engineering and it is more often used to describe non-electronic moving machines or in this case, animated figures which are put into motion by the turn of a handle.

All these mechanical sculptures ar made from wood, metal rods, gears, screws, and a bunch of other stuff in my little workshop. I started from scratch and all my sculptures are handmade and they are all prototypes.

In simple words:

 When an idea hits me, i draw a simple sketch (you can see examples to the sketch section of this site) and if it looks promising i make another more technical drawing. After that, follows a mixture of dust and sweat,…because the beginning of each project is surrounded by dust and a lot of noise. Working time varies depending on complexity. Sometimes, it takes me hours of experimentation until i find the perfect movement.

I work with beech wood (and this is a hardwood) which require a long time for carving and polish, but it has a big advantage: it will last for a long time.

And after many and many hours of work, broken nails and superficial injuries a new automaton is born.

Finally, each new automaton takes his place in Automatonia…a place where almost everything is possible… almost.

…and this is all about.

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