My rebellious obsession with drawing, and art in
general, surfaced in school when I should have been
doing my studies. School frustrated me because I was
labeled "hyperactive" and "dyslexic", but the truth was
that my teachers were angered by frequent questions
that they could not answer. All except for Mr.
Fredericks, or "R.F.", the San Francisco teacher who
encouraged me to keep going, and discouraged me
from taking standard “how to” classes asserting they
could “corrupt” my talent. Although I’m always
learning and trying new things, I did take Mr.
Fredericks advice and avoided traditional “art school”.

I have always been inspired by art that uses things
which might otherwise be thrown away. And, I have
always loved old stuff – antiques, collectibles, classic
motorcycles and cars, especially Delahaye, Bugatti, and
Duesenberg and, especially those customized by people
like Nudie Cohn.

The first bicycle I customized started out as a chrome
BMX and eventually became known as “Back in the
Saddle”, in honor of one of my favorite classic western
stars, Gene Autry (a lot of my work has a Western
flavor). This bike is the “grand daddy” to Rawhide,
which is the bike everyone seems to know me for. It’s
a moving, functional piece of art, and for many years
was my main mode of transpiration. Back in the Saddle
is now part of the permanent collection at the Gene
Autry Western Heritage Museum, so it’s going to be
around to view long after I’ve gone to the big ranch in
the sky. I’ve made about ten art bikes total, three of
which were recently featured in the Sony movie, Rent,
filmed in San Francisco.

I also create weird and wacky watercolors that always
seem to invoke lots of questions and laughter,
especially from children and the “young at heart”. My
"Rocketeer Wrangler" series of watercolors started
because it always seemed like Cowboys & Indians
meant “Cowboys and those darn awful Redskins”, and
that’s just not right. But, we can all hate those horrible
aliens together, safely, since they don’t actually exist
(or at least we think they don’t actually exist!). The
cowboys and aliens are set in the old west, because
that’s where almost all aliens seem to land – out in the
tundra, with tumbleweeds floating by. As a kid, I just
loved Science Fiction and old Westerns (actually still
do). So, I like to imagine what would happen if those
two TV channels got scrambled and you were stuck in
between the Wild West and outer space – where the
good guys still ride horses (or the other earth-friendly
alternative, bicycles), and the bad guys have a
petroleum-powered shining saucer for their getaway
car.

My birthday is the same day as Vincent Van Gough,
but I believe art should be fun, and bring a good laugh
from time to time, instead of just buying into the myth
of the “tortured artist” doing his best work when he's
at the brink of disaster, and totally self-destructive.
Life is just too darn short for that!
Artist's Statement