 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
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!
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