I've never seen this Robt Williams before, that I can remember

Prickly Heat: Designed and hand painted by Robert Williams

 

Reading an interview with RW, I found this fascinating, a perspective on Low Brow art from the guy who was there at the invention:

You had Paris, France as the capital of the art world for 200 years, then it was New York. I think Los Angeles could be the next capital of the art world. I say that because of what has become known as ‘lowbrow’ art. Lowbrow art is the disdained art.

On the West Coast you have hot rod art, you have biker art, you have tattoo art, you have skater art, you have surfer art, you have comic book and movie culture. You have all these arts that require people who can draw but who aren’t tolerated in the fine art world.

I make my living as an artist. I function in an art world that I have had to create. In the hot rod world I’m just a guy with a car. I have no aspirations to be some hot rod big shot.

But I do have these egotistical aspirations in the art world. I started an art form and had to launch a magazine [Juxtapoz] to support it. It’s only recently that the hot rod world and the art world have recognized each other.

The feminists hate it. The art world is run by extremely liberal people and the hot rod represents the decay of the environment, so the hot rod will never be accepted by them. Hot rods will be tolerated and marginalized, but they will never have any real influence even though they come with pin-striping.

https://www.streetmachine.com.au/features/artwork-robert-williams

https://voiceofoc.org/2022/01/lowbrow-art-champion-robert-williams-inspires-other-artists-at-occca/rw-pricklyheat1-1/

Robert Williams interview by his nephew, very cool! (Thanks Larry W!)

Talked his dad into getting him a '34 5 window at age 11!

Devil with a hammer, & hell with a torch... .

the cool art of Robert Williams

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/devil-with-a-hammer.626869/

Ed Roth and Robert Williams still continue to inspire, even at Comic Con, even with R2D2

this is the R2-ME2 Exhibition by Sideshow Collectibles, see about 60 various R2D2s from many artists, in many styles and pop culture references... it's really terrific: http://www.rebelscum.com/2015-Celebration-Anaheim/Star-Wars-Celebration-Anaheim-2015-Sideshow-R2-Me2-Exhibit/

Joyride/Flatout... Hot Rods and Dream Machines by Dan Quarnstrom. Book review

If you can imagine the Beach Boys "Little Deuce Coupe" playing in you mind, while at a So Cal dragstrip in the mid 60's, with Ed "Big Daddy" Roth in the vendor row selling monster shirts... this book is for you (or just in time for your dad or grand dad who were there!)

It's a rare person who lives the dream, is at the right place at the right time, and meets his heroes. They did not disappoint him.

Dan grew up in California, somewhere near San Francisco, and got to see the Oakland Roadster Show (63-67) when Cushenberry, Barris, Jeffries, and Winfield were unveiling for the first time their great works of show car masterpieces.

He wrote a fan letter to Ed Roth, and got a response, and even talked to him on the phone... that, well damn, that is pretty frickin awesome...

and once while at a mall, saw Brian Wilson, and was fortunate to introduce his son, a Beach Boys music fan, to Brian. Wow.

Dan went from being a young kid inspired by the icons of hot rodding and show car masterpieces, to a bonafide participant in the Revell 2nd Annual National Custom Car Contest, the one judged by Ivo, Shelby, Nancy, Roth and Moon! Not a sideline fan at all! Dan was living the car nut life, high octane, full bore!

And when he grew up... he became an artist! Yeah, that is cool, that's the evolution we all hope for, and Dan made it happen. Grade school text books with flames and pinstripes to the Art Center College of Design graduate!

See how all of this is so similar to what I've been posting?

Well, here are things in common, so if you already like:
Ed "Big Daddy" Roth
Rod and Custom magazines of the early 60's
slingshot dragsters,
A/FXers
Mouse sweaters and t-shirts
Model car kits
Art Center College of Design
and hot rod art...

- you're going to love this book.

Dan made this book become a tribute to family, by incorporating his dads art and influence, as he taught Dan some drawing techniques for getting the tires and wheels to look right, took him to the car shows, and he was both a Boeing machinst on B17 parts and a WW2 soldier.
And I don't just mean the kind you're born with... he illumintates the Roth Industries family of artists and monster designers - Ed Newton, Tom Daniel, and Robert Williams.
Dan even, without realizing I suppose, makes the many connections between the Art Center College of Design and hot rodding, by pointing out the alumni of the ACC that went on to work in the Ed Roth world... as Jack Leynnwood, a WW2 P-38 pilot, and then illustration instructor at the ACC was working at Revell in the peak of the Roth - Revell collaborations and painted the model car box covers for Outlaw and Mysterion!

Plus, Ed Newton was creating the water transfer sticker and t-shirt designs while Ed was making the show cars, and Newton was also a ACC alumni. Look at the connections!

Also, the astute observations Dan has of art (Rod and Custom Sept 1963 cover with Roth's Mysterion is a Mondrian modernism color backdrop to frame the cars)
and that the sponsorship of Don Prudhomme's creation (Revell Snake anad Mongoose) led to him being priced out of drag racing (WHOA! Damn, I hadn't ever realized how true that is!)

Stats
143 pages
all color illustrations, photos, and art
it takes about 2 to 2 and a 1/2 hours to read/look at/enjoy
17 pieces of Ed Roth art
3 photos from the drag races
34 photos from Oakland Roadster Show
13 magazine covers from the golden age of Rod and Custom and Car Craft
6 kit car boxes from Revell or Monogram



How many hot rod book authors also have an IMDB page? Just this one is my guess!
You've enjoyed his work on Escape From Planet Earth and Arthur Christmas for example.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1673477/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1
He also was an illustrator for Rolling Stone Magazine and Dan designed the polar bears for Coca Cola!

You can get a look at some pages via Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/JOYRIDE-FLATOUT-Rods-Dream-Machines/dp/1933492716

Or different ones at Design Studio Press (who were great as sent me this book to review!) http://designstudiopress.com/product/joyride/

Design Studio Press, where concept art and education meet (I like that motto)

A bit of this and that from here and there, can't recall where I found all of them

Robert Williams (kulture artist) had one impressive collection of German WW1 helmets Via: MC Art

Lettered in the Von Dutch style of obvious humor... love it! From Mr Jalopy

1908 Indian Torpedo Tank Racer

This image was on Pixdaus, but i don't recognize the car maker. What struck me as worthy of posting was the winch, bolted on front bumper and rope... why?

I love this funky can and bottle opener

1947 Salibury from MC Art

1965 Austin Mini Wildgoose

Robert Williams, lowbrow artist extraordinaire

His website and gallery of art, including the Hot Rod Race, Appetite for Destruction, Girl with the Faberge Ass, and about a dozen others.. in flash.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Williams_(artist) known to most as the artist who did the liner art poster for Guns and Roses Appetite for destruction, and known to some for the masterpiece "Hot Rod Race".

Robert worked as Ed Roth's art director, and in 1994 got a magazine going, maybe you've heard of Juxtapoz magazine? I doubt it, but who knows? http://beinart.org/artists/robert-williams/