Some whipped cream and salsa

Salsa?!

I like looking at things from a decidedly different angle, and am often inspired to seek out the inspiration behind a trend, or a particular style... I'm a fan of mixing and matching themes, styles, whatever...and an even bigger fan of just having fun with whatever I'm doing, and often seek out things that reflect this attitude. Whether in friends, books, movies, or music. Occasionally, this leads me to seek out stuff that's a bit off the beaten path. Such was the case here in the studio once again.

Anyway, I got to thinking, of all things, about Herb Alpert (not Marv Albert. That'd be weird.), and gave a listen to "Whipped Cream and Other Delights"... A far cry from what I was listening to a week ago, to say the least.... and by far much stranger cover art (if not quite risque', considering its 1965 release date):

Granted, this album was released before my time, but man... how cool were these cats? If you're not familiar with the Tijuana Brass, here's a quick history lesson:

Herb Alpert was a trumpet player who developed a unique sound that was a mix of south-of-the-border, mariachi and distinctly lounge-y sounds, probably best described as "Ameriachi" (as I learned from a few sources). If you're really lost here, think of the theme from the TV show The Dating Game, called "Spanish Flea", which was a Herb Alpert/Tijuana Brass tune, and you'll have an idea... or their version of "The Lonely Bull".

Anyway, the 'Brass cranked out a few albums in the '60's (even a cool Christmas album! Find a copy, and mambo your way through a Christmas Wonderland...)until Alpert called it quits, and took his (and business partner Jerry Moss') record label A&M, and signed some heavy talent, releasing a few albums of his own along the way (out-selling Michael Jackson in the late-'70's! Says a lot for that era, I guess), before selling the company to PolyGram in the late 1980's.

So what's this got to do with cars? Think traditional lowriders. Bellflower custom style(named after the city in LA county where the look spawned). A mix of the lowrider and custom car, and you'll see where I'm headed.

Consider Watson's Caddy:

It is the embodiment of the Bellflower look... the low stance, simple (if often ANY) body mod's, the bold, yet somehow understated paint technique (much like his T-Bird that came before), and those killer pipes. The East LA style, mixing elements from two cultures (like the Tijuana Brass did!), and coming out the other end with a clean, cool style. It's all about class, luxury, and style. Just like a lowrider, but with custom roots.

Lowriders embodied Mexican tradition. Crusing in a decked-out ride to impress the ladies, and show off your skills was more than just about the cars. Cruising may be traced back to the "paseo", where singles would walk around in the central plaza of the village, basically checking one another out. The idea here was to impress. Put these kids in cars, and it sure looks a lot like cruising... Which brings us forward a few years to the end of the second world war. Hot rodding was booming as young men returned from military service, eager to make creative use of their new mechanical skills. On the other end of the spectrum, the Mexican immigrants were making their cars look luxurious. It was style over speed... lowered stance, different hubcaps, an accessories like spotlights, skirts, pipes... many items shared in traditional customizing.

Fast-forward a few more years, and combine this look with the growing custom scene, and well, you got some clean, mild cars that made the most of the new styling coming from the factory... Apply it to a luxury car, and you're well on your way to a crossover look beyond compare. Imagine in late 1957 (coincidentally, the same year Bellflower was incorporated as a city), a young Larry Watson crusing into the Clock Drive-In in his panel-painted T-Bird...

I have a soft spot for this look... A couple years back, I sketched up a modern take on the look, combining it with the pro-touring look -- note pinstripe whitewalls on a 5-spoke as a nod to the classsic "Supremes and pinners" look (OK, and a mild chop, extended quarters, relocated and shortened trim...):

The idea behind the Bellflower look is clean lines, cool, vibrant and rich colors mixed with just enough chrome to keep your eyes happy...Make use of some 'flake or pearl, some striping... In other words, think mild custom, but dressed a notch higher. It's a fun style, to be sure, much like Herb's band of session musicians belting out "Ameriachi" cover versions. Take one thing, and spice it up with another influence, and man, you can't help but feel the vibe, and nod your head approvingly as you smile.

And that's how my mind works: From whipped cream to salsa, stopping in between for some quick history, and leaving you to consider mixing up some styles on your project... More hot rod and custom car design talk as always at www.problemchildkustoms.com

Body Double!

Friday morning, as I updated my site and a few posts here, I hopped on good old YouTube for moment, and saw a link to Rancid’s new video, and gave it a look… Good deal, good tune…

But….

Hang on….

…is that… ???

…no way….

He sure as hell looks like Corey Feldman!

Awesomeness.
...or maybe it's just me.

Innovation, guest appearances and simple math...

...all combined in my head over the past couple of days. I had been in the studio almost non-stop this past week, trying to keep up, and finishing up some bigger projects, and as usual, began to ponder mysteries of life.

One topic that often entertains my gray matter is that of innovation. I enjoy looking back on instances where one single event or idea made enough of a ripple to change something. Consider skateboarding (not much of that happening with a knee like mine lately)... A simple trick like the Ollie took it from slalom and simple "sidewalk surfing" into a whole new universe. Arials, tricks previously unimagined... Hell, almost all extreme (board) sports can trace some lineage back to this simple trick (consider how surfing was transformed by the arial). Car-wise, consider Sam Barris chopping the first Merc...

...or better yet, his fastback Buick!

Style moved in a whole new direction! Lower, cleaner designs poured from Detroit following this most basic (yet complex) custom idea.

It's all simple math, really. Add where you must, subtract what must be removed for the sake of style, and, if you do your math carefully, you have a winner! Consider that there are an almost infinite number of equations to arrive at a solid design, and it boggles the mind. It all falls on vision, and carrying elements to the right places.

Speaking of innovations, simple math, etc... I listen to a lot of music in the Studio, and I enjoy a broad range of styles. A recent spinning of some classic R & B really got the brain firing on all cylinders. I began to think about guest appearances, and the blending of occasionally different, and sometimes similar elements, and how they can affect the final product, be it music, cars, or even food. Canned Heat recorded an album with the legendary John Lee Hooker, entitled Hooker n' Heat, as the band was getting back to their blues roots.

The album is almost, in essence, a John Lee Hooker album, with the Heat playing backup... But it works. In fact, it's something beyond a simple listening experience... it takes on a life of its own (namely in Wilson's unbelievable harmonica playing-- sadly, also his last appearance). The meshing of Canned Heat's loose, funky, boogie style, with Hooker's down and dirty demeanor make this not only a great listen, but inspiration!

Consider how, in most cases, a guest appearance by anyone (be it TV, music, or anything) is often watered-down. In the case at hand, Hooker just stomps his way in front, and stays there... It's pure "attitude music" if ever such a thing existed.

How does this apply to cars? Like any good design, it's in choosing the right ingredients, and using them to the right level... pulling the most from their potential. It's not about just bringing in the hottest "at-the-moment" thing (remember composite headlamps being installed on EVERYTHING in the '80's? There's a warning.), it's choosing some elements that may be, on the surface, anyway, entirely different... and finding some common ground or theme for them to work from. Looking at the raw material, and then seeking out an element, a slice of character in either a part or a modification that just makes visual "sense". Consider the use of Buick trim on a Merc. Just looks "right" somehow. A good idea that spawned countless clones. I suppose that my point is simply to hone your ability to discern what makes for good design, and to absorb those things that look (or sound!) "right"... and make sense of the WHY (why they look right, why it flows). In short, don't be afraid to kick the tail of your board, invite a different co-host (or opinion), or throw a few new numbers into the equation.

After all, when it comes to innovation or imitation, there's really only one way I'd like to go...

Music lessons...

...or at least something better than that "screamo" crap you're listening to, anyway.

After digging on Christian's post over on the Motorburg forum concerning some "singing F-1 cars" (ever heard an engine belt out "God Save the Queen"? You owe it to yourself to.), I had to share a slightly related piece here.

I've been working with some pretty cool projects lately, a few in particular began with the terms "pushing the envelope" and "extreme", and it did nothing but flare up the urge in me to go fast. Granted, this is bit on the opposing end of the spectrum frrom earlier posts, where we looked at subtle modifications, and really praised the "less is more" school of thought, but the sheer thought and engineering in an F-1 car is mind-blowing, and certainly fits here. What pushes it to the outer reaches is the awesome power (OK, and noise) created by one of these monsters. And in my opinion, they are a textbook example of "extreme". Dig on one running all-out:

More mayhem, as always on my site: www.problemchildkustoms.com

"Lost between tomorrrow and yesterday..."

..."between now and then," sang Ray Davies...

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.


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 makes no sense at all. To simply start with nothing, and build upon nothing to acheive, well... nothing... is completely illogical. Every little spark springs forth something bigger than itself, and if you've been fortunate to surround yourself with positive, creative influences, then you're going to boldly go where no man has gone before, to to blatantly lift a phrase. Everything has some value, it has to by its very nature... Your job, then, is to not only recognize what is there, but determine its value, and find the right place for it in your work (or life!). 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... Combvine that with the paragraph above, and you'll gain insight to my values system, and just why I work as hard as I do: If you consistently think, walk and work outside of the box, you're going to find some truly unique ways to approach a creative project or problem, and the end result will be something loaded with fresh meaning.

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...