Steampunk art mixes modern ideas and technology with those from the past, namely the Victorian Age, when the Industrial Revolution was in full swing and steam was a major source of power. The genre started with literature, where science fiction and fantasy met Victorian-era scientists, but has since evolved to include all art forms, according to Web Urbanist.
Steampunk materials are often things you would find in an old science lab or industrial lot. Lots of wood as well as copper, brass, steel, iron and other heavy metals often comprise many of the pieces. Glass, old-fashioned lightbulb and watch parts, clockwork, rivets, cogs, levers, springs, gears and other pieces of machinery are also popular materials. Leather is another Steampunk staple, often sewn crudely together with thick stitches and heavy cord.
Some examples of Steampunk Art are an astronaut decked out in an old-fashioned, stitched, leather space suit is just one example of Steampunk art noted in the BBC's mini slide show of the Steampunk art exhibition at England's Museum of the History of Science at the University of Oxford. Another example was an antique Victrola, complete with its crank and ear horn but with the addition of an eyeball in its center and billing as an "eye-pod." One more example paired a robotic baby in a glass cylinder that was hooked up to an old-style pocket watch and other contraptions, titled "The Complete Mechanical Womb.
Some of the Steampunk's major inspirations come from movies, according to Web Urbanist. "Wild Wild West," which hit the big screen in 1999, featured a giant, mechanical spider, owned by Professor Loveless and powered by steam. Earlier film inspiration was 1977's "Star Wars," which still generates Steampunk versions of Stormtroopers and the squatty robot R2-D2.
I also found this link with 20 fabulous examples of steampunk art which can be found here
