Jive-Bomber submitted a new blog post: The Barris Kustoms Shop Woodie Continue reading the Original Blog Post
Damn that's cool...great story and I'll bump up the article and read it later if I can... Interesting this showing up after a couple of threads recently on just those things, flames and striping...to me this is a perfect example of nailed it...thanks @Jive-Bomber
It is interesting how flames 'style' has changed. If a vehicle were to appear sporting the above style, without the province of the Hot Rod magazine, they might be called crude and with no style as we have all become 'used' to more 'realistic' styled flames,, I wonder how they would look on my 54 Country Squire???
I would guess that he sold them. He sold a lot of accessories, hence the use of them in one of his how to articles.
Only George could 'decipher' this mess into a self-promoting story of everyday goings on in his shop! I rather see a Pterodactyl blending into the first Concorde...that morphing into a swan. ...and that's only the white characters...
Iconic vehicle. I put a post showing it being used by Hot Rog magazine at the lakes. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...at-the-lakes-used-by-hot-rod-magazine.599194/
I'm not advocating drunkenness or drug impairment but I think it would be naive to think that many of the things we enjoy around here weren't created or dreamed up or modified under an influence of something other than fresh air... Dutch's Striping adventure turned into an evening of exploratory abstract art in my opinion...and the connection of art and the hobby is very traditional...and as always beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Many artists were historically many times like the stars...vulnerable to substances much like all of us. Art to many was a release of the inner self. I wouldn't be surprised if this well known Artist below was an influence of Dutch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson_Pollock
Alcohol? It looks more like he picked up some WWII surplus amphetamines, and "tweaked" all night on the wagon.
What are those headlight rings off of? I have a pair on my dodge. I got them for $5 from a bargain bin at a swap meet. But I never knew exactly what they were off of.
One look at that abstract and I'd agree. Maybe alcohol fueled with something. Though some with artistic minds don't march to a typical drummer. They're way out there in the creative and imaginary aspect, so much so that people assume they're on drugs such as LSD. Out of this world creative, but not his best technical work. Take a look at the tailgate stripes; not straight and a huge variance on the line width (drunk?). The far left of the insert looks like a vanishing road. Still, if the car survived in a garage and was found, it would be awesome. Aftermarket accessory emulating Cadillac. There's a recent thread on these.
The randomness of the flames creates balance issues for an artist. Hand pulled without helpers guarantees a randomness and weighting issues. He may or may not have outlined a pattern, though I'm not really sure. Perhaps he may have stood back looked at it and said it's off but it's still a go. Not saying the balance in the mind wasn't off...just an artist has hurdles to work around and sometimes irregularities happen. Machine versus Man. Abstraction there really is no right or wrong.
What self indulgent ignoramuses some HAMBers appear when the expsose their total lack of knowledge of the contemporary art of that period. Masters of abstract expression were splashing and dripping paint, particularly, Jackson Pollock whose paintings fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars, now. Others, like William de Kooning, Jasper Johns, Mark Rothco, Raushenberg, and others explored other aspects of it. Because this art was shown frequently in museums and galleries, it must be assumed that the man behind the alias Von Dutch Kenneth Howard was familiar with this kind of Art that was contemporary to his times. Just as he was aware of Surrealism, and certainly Salvador Dali. Some of his work came from that knowledge, including the painting he did of the arm reaching out of the meat grinder still turning the handle. To attribute his noodling, in forms other than lines, on substance abuse or alcohol, is to forget what a maverick artist is capable of thinking and doing. If the claim it happened because of beer, a majority of the builders can be held to the same Standards. This, you may, pray not know, is only one of a few shop trucks he performed his magic on. There was a paint shop that he frequented where the owner, Stan Betz, would trade him a new motorcycle jacket to paint his shop truck, that was quite often and El Camino. He laid on stripes and a fair share of flying eyeballs and some of his abstractions, to a fare the well. Two things, ye of little knowledge might do to rectify your blatant ignorance: read something besides car magazines, more specifically about Art, and one of the many weekends you have, go to an Art Museum. Nothing there will bite you but, perhaps a desire to see and know more. I have always enjoyed the sculpture gardens. Maybe you can get a better grasp of plastic forms and start seeing the world in a different way. I sure as hell hope so.
Mr. desotot, I think you should get together with another ignoramus and you wish will be granted Maybe, you could both make New Year Resolutions to enroll in a Community.College, or the equivalent and take an Art Appreciation class. With your wit, I am sure you enjoy having more arrows for your quiver. Just make sure you don't shoot yourself in the foot. Then you would have to stick it in your mouth to make it better.
Have you noticed that if you look at the fames long enough they seem to literally reverse with red being the top coat car color and the lighter paint being the flames. Pretty neat. Sad that so many iconic customs are "lost" over the years.