…or at least the dust left behind by this monster:
I think I could handle this buzzing around in my garage...
When the AMC Hornets were new, the ads read with slogans like “If you think it looks good, wait’ll you feel it perform!”, “It’s not our strong guarantee that makes our Hornet a tough little car”, and “It’s beautiful when you fill it up”… Taking those sales pitches waaaaayyyy out of context bred the bright yellow beast above.
Right out of the box, I wanted to play up the automaker’s legacy, by using some references to Wisconsin, naturally, and then just say “screw convention”, and mess aound with a largely forgotten car… Thus, we have an AMC, some Green Bay colors, and, uh, well… that’s about it, aside from the crappy “cheese” line at the start.
Moving along, I’ve had this sick road racing-inspired ride “buzzing” in my head for about two years, and have played with the drawing on and off over that time span. I had watched The Man With the Golden Gun some time back, and it re-kindled a love affair with all things AMC (even if it would have been better had they used Alice Cooper’s song of the same name… but that’s another story for another time). When the master, Steve Stanford played with some AMC concepts last year, it re-kindled my interest in the idea, and after seeing just how dedicated the AMC guys are, I finally got all of the sketches into one place.
The concept: A ‘74 Hornet built with a nod to the Mulholland road-race crowd of the ’70’s. A tube chassis with a 9-inch center section IRS and Corvette-based front suspension allows the car to sit right on the ground, and the full ‘cage helps everyone insode feel safe as the world rushes by in a blur.
Speaking of “rushing by”, motivational power would be via a twin turbo 360, backed by a six speed… no LS-motors or otherwise… this baby would be an AMC through-and-through.
Body-wise, a late-model Challenger hood would donate its center, while retaining the stock Hornet hood peak and emblem recess, as it looks almost natural that way. The factory parking lamps would hit the swap meet, and air inlets installed to feed the mighty engine. While we’re up front, let’s drill out the heavy front bumper, add some driving lights, and then lightly tuck it to the body, and rework the fenders for a flush-fit look. A chin spoiler and splitters further play up the idea, and help to cut through the night air.
Side-exit exhaust just looked so damn cool, and sitting as low as this thing does, it made sense, too. Out back, I’m seeing a pair of ‘89 Mustang LX tail lights (nothing personal, just never liked the stock units), and a notched rear bumper to show off the rear belly pan.
Just wanted to share one of the little “side” projects that always seem to be floating around the Studio, and show a little love to the hard-core AMC crowd. Hope you dig it.�..
And you know, that song has been stuck in my head for weeks. It’s been years since I first heard the Kinks’ song “Do It Again”, and it kind of slid its way into the soundtrack of my life… What made me bring this up is the recent train of thought I’ve been on, with respect to my work, art and life in general. It seems that as things drift closer and closer to the absurd, I’m finding my inspiration in the very stuff that got me into this in the first place, which, as it turns out, is just absolutely beautiful.
Consider a few things, if you’ll humor me (on what has become a long-ass post):
Like anything you find an interest in, eventually you move forward from that original starting point, and hopefully improve upon it, build your skills, and in some instances, find new inspiration someplace else. For me, my interest in art started with comic books, the MAD Magazine and CARtoons Magazine, finally leaping to fine art, namely surrealist paintings and Op-Art. While attending college, I majored in Fine Art, painting and drawing, and was thankfully exposed to a number of different styles, techniques, approaches… and I’d say that just about 90% of it was shit. Somewhere, it seems, craftsmanship was replaced by some rote technique, and “trendy” found a home in the one place it should have never been allowed.
My answer to that? I drew cars again. With the art world pandering to any two-bit hack with a brush, there was a certain peace in sketching hot rods and customs. I moved along with the times, bringing the digital tools into my work, and have continued to push the combinations of organic and electric. But every now and then, I slip into a comfortable routine, and just hit “auto pilot” for a bit… Yeah, I feel kind of guilty about that. I become the very thing that makes me rebel in the first place… And you know what? It’s good. It brings about some good, I should say!
What’s truly unique about this particular moment is that I have, for the first time, combined a lot of those early influences into my work at the same time. It’s been amazing, and only getting better! The point here, though, isn’t so much about what has BEEN inspired, but more WHAT has inspired.
I looked back at my more artsy roots, and recall the first time I saw Victor Vasarely’s work “Vega-Nor”, an Op-Art (“optical art”) piece at the Albright-Knox.
Op-Art at its finest. Photo taken @ Albright-Knox Art Gallery, ca. 2002
This painting warped my young brain… not surprising, as that was its intent… After all, the point of Op-Art is to toy with one’s perception, using color and line. I really learned more about using line quality from that piece than anywhere else! It was later in life, while working on a rendering that I stopped to consider just how much depth you could create on paper just with line pressure… up until then, I had a pretty good idea, but the process and idea just seemed, well, natural. Vasarely, mind you, was well ahead of his time. Granted, this whole Op-Art movement was set in motion by the German mathematician (and artist!) Josef Albers, who experimented in the ’30’s with color, working to create spatial effects, but Vasarely moved it forward, working to create work that all could enjoy and take part in… kind of an anti-agenda, if you will… and as for being ahead of his time? Consider that in 1953, the man stated that “In the future, we will attend projected exhibits by contemporary artists. Two days will suffice to send a large show by envelope to any point in the globe. And in the attached letter, as in some sort of partition, in cyphers and terminology, the artist will present the initial and true conditions of his creation.”
Holy (expletive) premonition!!
Continuing this thought, he added that “from now on, the new technologies are here to diffuse art instantaneously to the masses.” Ponder this…. the man essentially predicted email, and the use of a means to reach millions in moments, using art coupled with technology. Thinking about this over the past few weeks, it hit me that truly, I was, like the Kinks song mentioned earlier, getting back to where I started! (definitely “lost between tomorrow and yesterday, between now and then”!) Here I am, playing with technology, and bringing in the old techniques. How cool is THAT??! (of course, to keep my cred with the artsy camp, I could point out the irony of using a pop band to illustrate an awakening based in art itself… that should buy some time and sound deep, too)
Over on the opposite side of this note, we have the unseen forces that make it all happen… Beyond the lines and colors and techniques, we have the almost intangible combinations of things that inspire a work to begin with. It’s that collection of inspirations that bring us to grab a pencil to begin with… all of those thoughts and items that begin to form a mental image. Each piece, no matter how insignificant on its own adds to the total. By concentrating on these smallest parts, a bigger picture forms… On that thought, I suppose that this is why I’ve always held a certain disdain for the Nihilistic approach, as it make no sense at all. Everything has some value, it has to. Victor Hugo made the point that “There is no such thing as nothingness, and zero does not exist. Everything is something. Nothing is nothing.”
So, I suppose, it’s remotely odd that I’d look fondly upon Op-Art and Surrealism so fondly, when either could, at any moment fall over the edge into Nihilism, and eat itself. Perhaps that is what makes it so damn fascinating to me in the first place” Walking that very fine line, and doing its’ own thing for shits and giggles. It’s the same reason that I enjoy the whole “Theater of the Absurd” movement (and its relevance to modern life)… it takes something so necessary for communication (language), and places complete distrust in it, opting for an alternative to illustrate a point…
It’s no different than customizing a car, really. You simply have to look beyond what was placed in front of you (the stock car), and find a new way to express an alternate form from it. Consider that, in linguistic terms, having the same car as everyone else would be, by nature, a cliche’. While the Theater of the Absurd attempted to show an audience through an onslaught of cliche’s, overly-technical jargon and essentially unconventional speech that they could elevate their communication by seeking more authentic means, and thus communication more clearly, customizing a car communicates non-verbally, and far more effectively that we are all individuals. It goes light years beyond the spoken or written word (which is why, most likely, that the photos in car magazines are so big compared to the text!) And perhaps that’s a scientific explanation of why a mild custom works so well… there is beauty in simplicity, and by golly, when applied to a car, it transcends art.
What’s also neat about this whole Theater of the Absurd/Op-Art/Brian’s listening to the Kinks again deal is how there really is no conflict when done right… much like designing a kick-ass custom. Flow is everything! Consider this video (a visual version of “Bulbous Bouffant” by the Vestibules, a long-time favorite of mine)… Consider the communication… odd, not a lot of sense, but it entertains, and finds a rhythm:
Like any good design, it drags you along for the ride, enjoying the flow, and really not asking for a hell of a lot in return. And that, my friend, is a magical thing… When you can combine a couple of things, and just make it “happen”, it’s icing on the cake. Here’s hoping you’ll stay tuned and enjoy the ride! To say the least, I’m pretty stoked about where its all heading now, and the clients I’ve been fortunate enough to have are right along on this ride, making it even more fun. Like the song at the start of this entry says, “day after day I get up and I say I better do it again”, and that takes us, literally, back to where we started…
I have had the incredible fortune of making some fantastic friends while doing what I love for a living. No doubt about it, I’m blessed to stumble across some great people, and able to make friends, thanks to my ability to sketch a car… Anyway, I had started to sketch up some ideas for another client-turned-friend and his ‘33 Ford project a while back, and we’ve been approaching the car at a leisurely pace while he finishes his latest tour of duty in Afghanistan.
As friends of the Studio know, I hold the utmost respect for our men and women serving this country, and am always eager to assist with their projects… There’s a great tie between hot rodding and the armed forces, and these are the folks who make it possible for me to do what I love for a living. In any event, my friend Brian (what a coincidence!) flies helicopters in search of the bad guys, and is just a great guy to converse with… and is plotting one hell of a clean street rod project, and I jumped into this with a serious amount of energy. After all, creating something to stir this guy’s sense of excitement will be a challenge and a half. Suffice to say, it’s another of those grand moments in the Studio when friendship springs from talking cars. Again, good fortune in finding some great people.
To make a long story short, Brian and the brave souls of the 159th CAB Task Force Tunder flew a flag in my (and the Studio’s!) honor in a combat mission on December 21, 2008.
I opened a box we received last week to find this:
The flag, certificate and shield decal
Words, quite honestly, fail to describe the the thanks, pride and absolute shock we all share here for this… Truly, this is beyond anything I’ve been lucky enough to be granted before, and will definitely share an honored space in the Studio for generations to come…
I hope that you’ll take a moment to think a good thought, say a prayer, or find some way to thank the people serving and protecting our country, rights and freedoms. In an age of apathy, non-patriotic attitudes, and flat-out belligerence and greed, it’s inspiring to know that there are truly some outstanding individuals working together to retain all that our forefathers fought to gain for us… Thank you, all who currently serve, or have in the past, and thank you, my friend for this amazing honor.
