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450 Fine Art Story told in 3 Limited edtion volumes
The Imaginarium Trilogy Book 1 - Eva's Story
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£99 plus shipping – only a limited number left from the 1000 copies
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The Imaginarium story is organic, it has evolved over 10 years. There were no auditions for parts. My one rule is that you have to be a genuine steampunk to be in the story. If I meet a Steampunk in an amazing costume the character will instantly form in my mind, including their whole back story. It is as though I have lived their characters life.
The Steampunk community is amazingly creative and hugely inspiring, with no shortage of character possibilities, but it only works for me if I ‘see’ the character on first sight. I then work by asking the characters to act the scenes out, so I give them the back story and they then become the character I have in mind.
Meticulously crafted by photographer Gary Nicholls, The Imaginarium tells an intricate, fantastical and ultimately beautiful steampunk story through the unique medium of fine art images. Years in the making, Nicholls’ creation is so much more than just a book – it’s an adventure through the power of art that tells an enthralling, powerful story readers won’t be forgetting any time soon.
“The Imaginarium” tells the tale of fictional character Eva and her journey from ruination to salvation, saving the world from a powerful nemesis, told in a series of Fine Art Photographic images. This fantastical story is told in The Imaginarium, book one of a trilogy containing over 150 fine art images. The tale includes a cast of over 150-real Steampunks, whose amazing costumes have all been carefully designed and created by talented seamstresses. Not only is the fashion important within the story but the gadgets included in the scenes have also been uniquely created and designed by master craftsman, Peter Walton. Some of these pieces have taken over 10 months to design and make, with pieces such as the Necessitti costing over £12,000. The first volume in “The Imaginarium Trilogy”, is entitled ‘Eva’s Story’ and Gary is currently working on the second, entitled ‘Robbie Pertwee’.
Each image has taken between 100-300 hours to produce, but the street scene taking over 600 hours. Works from the story, are individually printed on Chromelux because the luminosity of works these old masters, was due to these painters’ practice of applying multiple, thin layers of paint to their canvases. In the same way, the layers of dyes infused into the thick, translucent coating on the aluminium plates give a similar sense of depth and luminosity. Gary is creating something unique in that it is a Fine Art Story which usually astounds the viewer, in the complexity of the imagery.
The influence of old masters’ techniques, such as Caravaggio, Vermeer and Rembrandt, are apparent throughout his work as he builds layers of detail from multiple photographs taken personally from locations as diverse as New York City, London, Barcelona, Cambodia, Poland, Kefalonia and Portugal. Gary’s study of the old masters is evident in his meticulous attention to the vital details of shadows and light. Vermeer’s work represents light as a tangible substance, which is equally evident in Gary’s work.
His exacting search for locations to create these images is paramount in creating the final images. “If I cannot find the exact location, I build one in photoshop from different elements of the places I have visited and photographed… the street scene is made up buildings all over the UK, from Leamington to London.”
The second volume – The Imaginarium, Robbie Pertwee has an added bonus, designed to make the observer look closely at the images. A keen adventure gamer in a past life, Gary has created a treasure hunt. Each of the 150 images has symbols hidden in the scenes. Find them all and crack the code and you will have a 150 word riddle. Solve the riddle and you will end up with a website address. Solve the clues on the website and you will uncover a grid reference. Somewhere in the world, £15,000 worth of Gary’s art is buried in a box. It is a little known fact, that hidden in Book 1 is …. Danger mouse and so far it has not been found!
