Thomas Kuntz
Encyclopedia
Thomas Kuntz is an American
multi-media artist
notable for his contemporary automata
. He has devoted a lifetime to acquiring the skills of a designer, sculptor, mechanic, automatist, animator, model-maker, painter and conceptualist.
January 13, 1965. The youngest of four, his father was a surgeon, and his mother a folk artist/doll maker. They both provided the necessary gene pool and a stimulating environment for him to grow. As a child he poured over anatomy books, sketchpads, and built his first scale model at age six. As a model maker, he was competing in the masters class (professional) by age 16. Kuntz spent the balance of his youth playing soccer, ending in a brief stint with the Western Soccer League (WSL).
industry by creating several figure models based on obscure characters from silent movies and occult
lore.
Gaining notoriety upon these works, he was courted by commercial model and toy companies such as Screamin‘ Products Bowen Designs
, Mattel
, Ertl Company
and Jakks Pacific
.
Subsequent inspiration came from the legendary Maila Nurmi
(Vampira). They met in 1990 when Thomas was granted permission to model a Vampira figure, and they remained confidants for 18 years until the day when he was a pallbearer at her funeral.
To quote Kuntz in an article he wrote shortly after her death, “She was a mentor, a muse, and a huge inspiration to me.”
noted "Thomas's projects tend to feature the mysterious, uncanny, sometimes darkly horrific and bittersweet sad aspects of human nature. It is not uncommon to see his projects packaged with a strong dose of 'gallows humor', theatrics and magic."
Thomas uses uncanny valley
, the theory holds that when robots and other facsimiles of humans look and act almost like actual humans, it causes a response of revulsion among human observers. The "valley" in question is a dip in a proposed graph of the positivity of human reaction as a function of a robot's life-likeness. In robotics this is seen as a problem. Kuntz uses this as an area of exploration.
On his most complex piece to date, the “Alchemyst’s Clock Tower” uses theme park technology and 18th century automaton
techniques applied to fine art. The clock tower is a 9 ft tall miniature theater with a 12” tall magician that conjures fire demons, turns pillars into water, produces optical illusions, and interacts with the audience.
“L’Oracle“, his fortune telling automaton appeared on a Halloween special of the Martha Stewart
television show as part of Richard Garriott
’s collection.
Other notable works include animatronics
and stage design for the industrial band Skinny Puppy
's Doomsday: Back and Forth Series 5: Live in Dresden
, and various live shows for Ohgr
.
Kuntz was also the animator, art director and stop-motion puppet builder for Ohgr's music video Majik, directed by William Morrison.
A small collection of his works were borrowed by director William Malone
for the film Parasomnia.
Kuntz’s works are influenced equally by low-brow and high-brow sensibilities, ranging from Expressionism
, Dada
/Surrealism
, to the old masters Albrecht Dürer
, Hieronymus Bosch, Bruegel, Da Vinci, and Archimboldo.
Mechanical influences include 18th and 19th century android makers, particularly Jacques de Vaucanson
, Pierre Jaquet-Droz
, Jean-Frédéric Leschot, and the great parisian makers of the golden age. Other magical influences include Wolfgang von Kempelen
, the French mechanic/magician Robert Houdin, as well as Walt Disney
and the early Imagineers; especially Rolly Crump.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
multi-media artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
notable for his contemporary automata
Automata
Automata is the plural form of automaton, a self-operating machine. It may also refer to:* "Automata", a short story by E. T. A. Hoffmann* "Automata", a hardboiled science fiction crime series by Penny Arcade...
. He has devoted a lifetime to acquiring the skills of a designer, sculptor, mechanic, automatist, animator, model-maker, painter and conceptualist.
Early life
Kuntz was born in Phoenix, ArizonaPhoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
January 13, 1965. The youngest of four, his father was a surgeon, and his mother a folk artist/doll maker. They both provided the necessary gene pool and a stimulating environment for him to grow. As a child he poured over anatomy books, sketchpads, and built his first scale model at age six. As a model maker, he was competing in the masters class (professional) by age 16. Kuntz spent the balance of his youth playing soccer, ending in a brief stint with the Western Soccer League (WSL).
Early Works
In 1986, Thomas began a professional sculpting career with his own experimental entity called Artomic Creations. While contemporaries focused on popular characters, Thomas became one of the pioneers of the garage kitGarage kit
A garage kit or resin kit is an assembly scale model kit most commonly cast in polyurethane resin. They are often figures portraying humans or other living creatures. In Japan, kits often depict anime characters, and in the United States depictions of movie monsters are common...
industry by creating several figure models based on obscure characters from silent movies and occult
Occult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
lore.
Gaining notoriety upon these works, he was courted by commercial model and toy companies such as Screamin‘ Products Bowen Designs
Bowen Designs
First established in 1978 . Bowen Designs is a company dealing in the creation and sale of entertainment-based collectible statues...
, Mattel
Mattel
Mattel, Inc. is the world's largest toy company based on revenue. The products it produces include Fisher Price, Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox toys, Masters of the Universe, American Girl dolls, board games, and, in the early 1980s, video game consoles. The company's name is derived from...
, Ertl Company
Ertl Company
The Ertl Company is an American toy company best known for its die-cast metal alloy collectible replicas of farm equipment and vehicles. The company is based in Dyersville, Iowa, home of the National Farm Toy Museum...
and Jakks Pacific
Jakks Pacific
JAKKS Pacific, Inc. is a designer and marketer of toys and consumer products, with a range of products that feature numerous children's toy licenses...
.
Subsequent inspiration came from the legendary Maila Nurmi
Maila Nurmi
Maila Nurmi was a Finnish-American actress who created the campy 1950s characterVampira. She portrayed Vampira as TV's first horror host and in the Ed Wood cult film Plan 9 from Outer Space...
(Vampira). They met in 1990 when Thomas was granted permission to model a Vampira figure, and they remained confidants for 18 years until the day when he was a pallbearer at her funeral.
To quote Kuntz in an article he wrote shortly after her death, “She was a mentor, a muse, and a huge inspiration to me.”
Current Works
Kuntz now works full-time as a multi-media artist, focusing on automatons, moving sculptures and machines. The British illusionist, Simon DrakeSimon Drake
Simon Drake is the stage name of Simon Alexander; a British magician based in London. He is best known for the innovative and shocking television series Secret Cabaret made for Britain's Channel 4.-Early life:...
noted "Thomas's projects tend to feature the mysterious, uncanny, sometimes darkly horrific and bittersweet sad aspects of human nature. It is not uncommon to see his projects packaged with a strong dose of 'gallows humor', theatrics and magic."
Thomas uses uncanny valley
Uncanny Valley
The uncanny valley is a hypothesis in the field of robotics and 3D computer animation, which holds that when human replicas look and act almost, but not perfectly, like actual human beings, it causes a response of revulsion among human observers...
, the theory holds that when robots and other facsimiles of humans look and act almost like actual humans, it causes a response of revulsion among human observers. The "valley" in question is a dip in a proposed graph of the positivity of human reaction as a function of a robot's life-likeness. In robotics this is seen as a problem. Kuntz uses this as an area of exploration.
On his most complex piece to date, the “Alchemyst’s Clock Tower” uses theme park technology and 18th century automaton
Automaton
An automaton is a self-operating machine. The word is sometimes used to describe a robot, more specifically an autonomous robot. An alternative spelling, now obsolete, is automation.-Etymology:...
techniques applied to fine art. The clock tower is a 9 ft tall miniature theater with a 12” tall magician that conjures fire demons, turns pillars into water, produces optical illusions, and interacts with the audience.
“L’Oracle“, his fortune telling automaton appeared on a Halloween special of the Martha Stewart
Martha Stewart
Martha Stewart is an American business magnate, author, magazine publisher, and television personality. As founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, she has gained success through a variety of business ventures, encompassing publishing, broadcasting, and merchandising...
television show as part of Richard Garriott
Richard Garriott
Richard Allen Garriott is a British-American video game developer and entrepreneur.He is also known as his alter egos Lord British in Ultima and General British in Tabula Rasa...
’s collection.
Other notable works include animatronics
Animatronics
Animatronics is the use of mechatronics to create machines which seem animate rather than robotic. Animatronic creations include animals , plants and even mythical creatures...
and stage design for the industrial band Skinny Puppy
Skinny Puppy
Skinny Puppy is a Canadian industrial musical group, formed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 1982. The group is widely considered to be the founders of the electro-industrial genre....
's Doomsday: Back and Forth Series 5: Live in Dresden
Doomsday: Back and Forth Series 5: Live in Dresden
-Original Performance:The CD is an edited version of the concert as four songs were omitted. The original concert setlist was as follows:#Choralone *#Deep Down Trauma Hounds#Love in Vein#Inquisition#Hardset Head *#Convulsion#Worlock#Grave Wisdom...
, and various live shows for Ohgr
OhGr
ohGr is a band formed by Nivek Ogre, of Skinny Puppy, and musician/engineer Mark Walk. Although the pedigree of the group's members might suggest otherwise, early ohGr releases differed in sound to its related industrial bands, drawing more on hip-hop and electro-pop influences, incorporating more...
.
Kuntz was also the animator, art director and stop-motion puppet builder for Ohgr's music video Majik, directed by William Morrison.
A small collection of his works were borrowed by director William Malone
William Malone
Lieutenant-Colonel William George Malone was a World War I New Zealand soldier.William Malone was born in Kent, England to an Irish mother and an English scientist father...
for the film Parasomnia.
Influences
Kuntz takes an alchemical approach to his art, conjoining seemingly opposing ideas and techniques.Kuntz’s works are influenced equally by low-brow and high-brow sensibilities, ranging from Expressionism
Expressionism
Expressionism was a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas...
, Dada
Dada
Dada or Dadaism is a cultural movement that began in Zurich, Switzerland, during World War I and peaked from 1916 to 1922. The movement primarily involved visual arts, literature—poetry, art manifestoes, art theory—theatre, and graphic design, and concentrated its anti-war politics through a...
/Surrealism
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
, to the old masters Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer was a German painter, printmaker, engraver, mathematician, and theorist from Nuremberg. His prints established his reputation across Europe when he was still in his twenties, and he has been conventionally regarded as the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance ever since...
, Hieronymus Bosch, Bruegel, Da Vinci, and Archimboldo.
Mechanical influences include 18th and 19th century android makers, particularly Jacques de Vaucanson
Jacques de Vaucanson
Jacques de Vaucanson was a French inventor and artist who was responsible for the creation of impressive and innovative automata and machines such as the first completely automated loom.-Early life:...
, Pierre Jaquet-Droz
Pierre Jaquet-Droz
Pierre Jaquet-Droz was a Swiss-born watchmaker of the late eighteenth century. He lived in Paris, London, and Geneva, where he designed and built animated dolls, or automata, to help his firm sell watches and mechanical birds....
, Jean-Frédéric Leschot, and the great parisian makers of the golden age. Other magical influences include Wolfgang von Kempelen
Wolfgang von Kempelen
Johann Wolfgang Ritter von Kempelen de Pázmánd was a Hungarian author and inventor with Irish ancestors.-Life:...
, the French mechanic/magician Robert Houdin, as well as Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
and the early Imagineers; especially Rolly Crump.
External links
- http://thomaskuntz.com
- http://www.artomic.com
- http://www.youtube.com/user/haxanthrobo
- “Majik” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJSsEPSmdMI